


Puzzle, The

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Angst, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-06-18
Updated: 2008-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-15 03:57:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 27,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14783180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Donna's got an unwanted secret admirer.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

“There you are!” Josh called out to Donna as he finally found her moving quickly through the corridors of the White House. She’d been trying to track him down for about 20 minutes now with the briefing info he was going to need tonight when he talked to the Senator at the State Dinner. 

“I need you to tie this.” He said holding up his tuxedo tie. 

“Kay.” She said falling into step next to him. 

“You have what I need for tonight?” he asked. 

“Yeah.” 

Normally, Donna was able to read, pull things out of folders, write, and do any other number of tasks while never breaking stride with Josh. But this time, she stopped walking and opened the folder. He was about five paces in front of her before he realized she was no longer walking next to him. He stopped and turned expectantly toward her. She looked back up at him with a look of surprise and hustled over, and they started walking again, but after a few more paces, Donna fell behind again. They were right through the bullpen doors and she stopped all together. When Josh noticed she wasn’t next to him again, he stopped and turned around, immediately taking notice of the defeated look on her face. She was near tears. 

He walked over to her and dropped the volume of his voice. “What’s wrong? What’s the matter?” 

“We’re all screwed up.” She said giving in to the tears. 

“What are you talking about?” 

“Us.” She cried gesturing between them with her hand. “Our whole rhythm has been off all day. It’s because of last night.” 

Josh gently took her hand and led her into his office, closing the door as soon as they were over the threshold. He pulled her into his arms and softly rubbed her back as she cried on his shoulder. 

“We can fix last night.” He said softly. “But you’ve got to get it together right now. I’ve got to get over there.” She sighed and pulled away, setting to work on his tie. He never took her eyes off her while she worked and she never looked up at him. She let her fingers linger when she was finished and he grabbed them and brought them to his chest. Just then, there was a knock on the door. Josh kissed her fingertips and let their hands fall in between them. 

“Yeah!” he called. 

Sam opened the door and stepped into the office. “We’re late.” He announced showing no notice of how close they were standing. Josh turned to leave the office, letting go of her hand at the last possible second. Once he was gone, Donna gently closed the door, sat down in his chair and cried. 

Meanwhile, Josh was leaning up against the wall outside with his palms to his eyes. Of course she was right. They had been screwed up all day and it was because of last night. But he was right, too. They could fix it, only they couldn’t agree on how. Try as he might, he couldn’t remember who kissed who first, but they’d finally crossed that line last night and acknowledged the 500 pound gorilla in the room. They didn’t do anything other than kiss, but that kiss was…amazing. 

And stupid. 

Donna refused to transfer and leave him; Josh refused to get involved while she worked for him. Not because he thought there was anything inappropriate about it, but because he refused to allow her credibility to be dragged through the mud for him. She reminded him that there were already rumors about them, but he still felt there was a big difference between people whispering behind their back and someone like Mary Marsh going on Face the Nation and calling her a whore. 

She was afraid that they’d ruined them. She was sort of right in Josh’s opinion, at least as far as he was concerned. All he’d done was kiss her and other women were ruined for him now. That one little taste of her and he was left wondering if he’d ever kissed a woman before her. Of course, he knew it would be that way with her. He knew that if they crossed that line, he could never go back. 

“Josh.” Sam urged quietly. 

“Yeah.” He pushed himself off the wall and walked away with Sam. 

“Why doesn’t she just transfer out of operations?” Sam asked. Sam didn’t have to ask what Josh’s problem was. As his best friend, it had become pretty obvious over the last three years how Josh and Donna felt about each other, and even he could tell they were out of sync today. 

“She doesn’t want to leave me.” Josh replied. Sam took note of the hopeless tone of Sam’s voice. There had to be a way for them. He refused to believe that fate worked this way. 

“So screw it then.” Sam shrugged. “Do it anyway. Who cares what people say?” 

“I do, Sam.” Josh said with more force than he had intended. “I care what they say about her.” 

“She looked really upset.” 

“She is.” 

“So don’t go to the thing. Go talk to her and figure it out.” 

“I have to. I have to talk to Senator Connolly about the energy package.” Josh sighed. 

“He jumped ship too?” Sam asked. 

“Yeah. We can’t lose it. It’s the first bill since the MS announcement. If we lose, we’ll look weak right out of the gate.” 

“Talk to him first then leave.” Sam replied. “I’ll cover for you.” 

“What are you going to tell the President?” Josh asked. 

“Well, if I can finagle it for when Dr. Bartlet is standing there, I’ll tell him the truth.” Sam said. “Donna was upset. You did your thing and then went to make sure she was okay. You know if Abbey’s there the President can’t get pissed.” 

“We’ll see.” 

*************** 

Josh entered his apartment later that night to find Donna asleep on his couch. He’d gone by her place first, but her roommate told him that she hadn’t been home that night. He knelt down in front of her and brushed the hair from her face. She smiled lazily at him as she opened her eyes and he thought that he could definitely get used to seeing her like this. 

“Did you get Connolly?” she asked in a hoarse voice. She didn’t want to tell him that her throat was now sore from crying so much. 

“No.” he sighed. 

“Are we in trouble?” 

“Not yet. Almost though.” They looked at each other for a few moments before he broke the silence. “You okay?” 

“I feel like an idiot.” She said falling back against the pillow on the couch and looking up at the ceiling. 

“Why?” 

“Because I thought if I came here tonight, I could force myself to see you as any other guy, have a one night stand and get past it.” She blurted. Josh’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. Well, there it was then. 

“I can’t do that with you.” He said. 

“I can’t do that with you either. As soon as I opened my eyes and saw you, I knew it wasn’t going to work out that way.” 

“Donna, please take the job in the First Lady’s office.” Josh pleaded. 

“No.” 

“It’s the only way.” 

“I won’t leave you.” 

“How the hell do you think you’d be leaving me?” he demanded. He hadn’t meant to get so worked up about it, but he was frustrated. 

“Who’s going to take care of you?” she shot back. 

“You are!” 

“How?” 

“Donna, have you ever actually talked to any of the other assistants about what it is they do for CJ, Toby and Sam? They answer their phone, they file, they type their stuff, they handle their schedule and that’s it. You do more for other reasons. Everything else you do, you can still do because everything else you do is personal. You’d be across the building, not even across the street. Don’t you even want to try?” 

He was begging her now. He’d never begged a woman before in his life, but for the life of him, he couldn’t let her go. He’d actually talked to Leo and Abbey about the transfer tonight and they thought it was a great idea. Abbey was excited to have Donna and Donna would be outstanding in the job. Of course, Donna didn’t even know what the position was yet. 

“Yes.” She whispered. 

“If you’re miserable we’ll change it back.” He said, though he hoped it worked out for her. It would be a promotion and a raise for her. 

“Okay.” She sighed. 

“Okay?” he asked hopefully. Was she really saying yes? Were they finally getting a chance? He didn’t realize he was holding his breath until he let it out when she nodded. 

“What’s the job anyway?” she asked. 

“Deputy Chief of Staff.” 

“ARE YOU CRAZY?!” she shrieked. Deputy Chief of Staff to the First Lady? Is he insane? 

“Calm down.” He said grabbing her hand. 

“I can’t do that job.” She shook her head. 

“Donna, you can do MY job.” He laughed. “And my job is a hell of a lot more complex than this one, with much higher stakes. You CAN do this job. You’ll talk to Abbey tomorrow and she’ll lay it all out for you. You’ll be happy with it, I know you will.” 

“How do you expect me to be happy with it not working for you?” she moped. 

“It’ll be challenging.” He retorted. 

“Trust me Joshua, working for you is quite the challenge.” She was back to the snarking again, so things were looking up. “What about the campaign?” 

“What about it?” he sighed. 

“I won’t be able to go out of town with you.” 

“The First Lady campaigns.” 

“But not always with the President.” Donna countered. “Not to mention, you’ve got a three week swing in July.” 

“Of which the First Lady is joining us in week two.” He retorted. “Donna, the campaign is – well, it’s done in the blink of an eye. It’s already like half over. We don’t need to be there for all of it this time. There’s still a country to run. I thought you wanted this.” 

“I do!” she sat up and cupped his face in her hands. “I do. I’m just afraid that something’s going to screw it up and we’ll be ruined.” 

“Okay.” Josh said rising up on his knees until he was level with her face. “I have one argument left.” 

“What’s that?” she asked, immediately wary of the smirk on his face. He briefly gave her a smile and leaned in and kissed her…and kissed her…and kissed her. 

“You make quite a compelling argument.” Donna panted when they finally parted. 

“Thank you.” 

“You talk to congress like this?” 

“I do what it takes to win.” 

“What else you got up your sleeve?” she smiled. 

“Just earth moving sex.” 

“That’s it?” 

“That’s it.” 

“It’ll have to do then.” 

TBC


	2. Puzzle, The

Donna hustled out of the First Lady’s motorcade and into the hotel. The First Lady’s staff was supposed to meet up with the President’s staff in the ballroom to finalize the details for tonight’s event. They were finally meeting up with the campaign after the first week and Donna felt like she was going through withdrawal. She used to think the week it took her to catch back up with the first campaign after she’d made the decision to go back was the longest week of her life, but she’d decided that now this week was longer. If she didn’t see him soon, she was going to explode. 

For the most part, the job was working out well. Donna was certainly enjoying the benefits of not working for Josh anymore. But then again, she got to spend a lot less time with him now because she wasn’t working for him. But her job came with a lot more responsibility and she really liked working with Abbey Bartlet. The First Lady had such a unique view of everything, that Donna really found her endearing. 

“Hi Donna!” someone greeted falling into step with her. She looked over and smiled at her new walking companion. He just started working with them. He was with the press corps that traveled with the First Lady. 

“Hi.” Donna greeted then turned her attention back down the hall. 

“I just wanted to introduce myself. I’m Eric. I’ve been assigned to the First Lady for the campaign. I work for the Daily News.” 

“Oh, well, welcome aboard.” Donna smiled. She entered the ballroom and immediately forgot all about the newcomer. It wasn’t hard to find Josh. He was down by the stage engaged in a very heated debate with Doug. It sounded like it was over the speech the President was giving that night. 

“Doug! The man has a PhD and a Nobel Peace Prize. Why are you constantly insisting on dumbing down the language in his speeches? I think he’s made his opinions on that known.” 

“Because most Americans don’t have PhDs, Josh! Most Americans aren’t Nobel Laureates! They’re comforted by being reminded that the person who holds that job is also a human being!” 

“First of all, Doug, I think we’ve been reminded that the President is a human being.” Josh retorted lowering the tone of his voice, which Donna knew was never a good sign. “Secondly, the last person I want in the Oval Office is an average American. I want someone sitting in that office who has been preparing for this job their entire life. I want someone sitting in that office that most certainly is smarter than me; that can take a problem and break it down and look at it from all angles before he decides to send bombers into the Middle East, or the FBI to storm a house where a madman’s taken children hostage; whether or not to send destroyers to get the back of a country that’s trying to hold its first free elections. Those are all decisions I don’t want my mom’s neighbor Ted the accountant making.” 

Donna stopped just behind Josh and caught Doug’s eye. “Thank God!” Doug griped, rolling his eyes and turning away. Josh turned around and smiled when he saw her. 

“Hey, did you just get here?” 

“Yeah, just now.” She smiled back. She wished so many people weren’t around, so she could throw herself at him. 

“You look good.” He said quietly picking up her hand and gently squeezing it, the most contact that they could muster in public like this. 

“Thanks.” Donna smiled. She hadn’t stopped smiling since she got to the hotel. She was beginning to feel pretty goofy. “I’m going to go check into my room now.” She hooked her thumb towards the door and took a step back. 

“I should probably help you with that.” Josh said following her. “You know, help you with your suitcase.” 

“For God’s sake, you’re like a dog in heat.” Toby grumbled walking over to Doug and witnessing the reunion. “Do you believe this?” Toby continued turning to Doug. 

“I don’t care what he does, as long as he leaves me alone for five minutes.” Doug grumbled turning back to his copy of the speech that was spread out in front of him on the stage. 

Toby rolled his eyes as he watched Josh and Donna practically race each other out of the ballroom. Donna grabbed her suitcase out of the lobby as Josh pressed the elevator button. Once inside the elevator, they were instantly all over each other, but it only lasted a single floor as the bell chimed and other passengers got on. The doors opened to the fifth floor and they hustled out of the elevator. 

“Which room?” Josh asked quickly looking up and down the hall. 

“512.” Donna answered looking down at her keycard. Josh grabbed her hand and pulled her down the hallway, as she pulled her suitcase along behind her. 

“Let me just launch my complaint now and say that this is bullshit.” He announced as they moved quickly down the hall. “They’ve got us on the fourth floor. You’ve never been on a different floor than me.” 

“What do you care?” she countered stopping in front of her door. “You’re never going to be in there anyway. You’re sharing a room with Sam, I’m by myself.” He moved aside so she could swipe the card through the reader and open the door. Once inside the room, he slammed the door with his body and pulled her up against him. What she thought was going to be an aggressive make out session up against the door, was just the opposite. As soon as he pulled her to him, he paused. 

“I missed you.” He said softly as he hooked a finger under her chin. 

“Yeah?” she smiled and he nodded. She smiled again. “When did you find you missed me the most?” 

This time it was his turn to smile. “The whole damn time.” 

“That’s not what you were supposed to say.” She said pouting. He shrugged and pulled her in for a soft, lingering kiss. “You’re shivering.” He noted softly pulling away. “It’s South Carolina in July, baby, how could you possibly be cold?” 

“Who said anything about being cold?” she whispered huskily and leaned in to kiss him. 

“Okay. That’s an ego boost.” He began to slowly back her into the room. 

“Not that you need one.” 

They had just tumbled down onto the bed when there was a knock on the door. “If whoever is on the other side of that door doesn’t have secret service protection, I swear to God, I’m going to kill them.” Josh growled pushing himself off of Donna and over to the bed. 

Whipping open the door, he saw Eric who was just talking to Donna standing there. 

“Who the hell are you?” Josh demanded. 

“Josh!” Donna exclaimed. 

“I’m Eric. I’m with the First Lady’s press detail.” 

“What can I do for you?” 

“The First Lady is looking for Ms. Moss.” Eric announced. 

“I’ll let her know.” Josh slammed the door and turned back into the room where he saw Donna sigh and start to get up. “What are you doing?” he demanded. 

“Going to see what the First Lady needs.” 

“Baby, I don’t know what the hell that was,” Josh said hooking his finger toward the door, “but the First Lady doesn’t send the press to fetch people for her. When has that ever happened with either the President or First Lady?” 

“That’s a good point.” Donna said mulling that over. “I wonder what that was.” 

“I don’t really care.” Josh said crawling down over her onto the bed again. “I think I just answered his question of whether or not you had a boyfriend.” 

“A rude one.” Donna countered. “You could have been a little more polite.” 

“Donna, there’s no oxygen going to my brain right now.” Josh reminded. “He’s a male; he’ll understand that. I want to go back to the shivering thing.” 

“You’re incorrigible, Josh.” Donna sighed as Josh moved back to kissing her neck. 

“I haven’t had sex for a week.” 

“You’ve gone longer than that, I’m sure.” 

“No, no, baby.” Josh corrected. “Sex with you is like oxygen, or coffee.” 

“Coffee?” 

“Well, coffee for me.” 

“Wow, that’s certainly a fix you need there.” Donna said. That was saying something there, considering Josh rarely drank anything else during the day, despite Donna’s best efforts to actually get him to hydrate with something that didn’t have caffeine in it. 

“This is what I’m saying.” 

********************** 

“You really did miss me.” Donna said softly, as Josh gave her one last tender kiss on her forehead. 

“I said I did.” He said rolling off her and tossing her over her clothes. He’d been gone from the ballroom long enough at this point, and he needed to go check in. 

“Yeah, but that was something else.” Reluctantly, she started buttoning her shirt. She glanced over at the clock. It was now 3:30, only eight more hours to go before they could come back here and do that again. 

“I’m not right when you’re not with me, baby.” Josh said sitting on the bed to put his shoes on. “I’m like that V-8 commercial where everyone walks crooked until they drink a can of V-8 and suddenly, they’re all walking straight again.” 

“You really do say the sweetest things sometimes, Joshua.” Donna chuckled leaning over and kissing him on the cheek. 

She chewed on her lip for a second while she thought of how best to approach this next topic of conversation. She wasn’t his assistant anymore, so she was reasonably sure he wouldn’t be taking care of this on his own, and she wasn’t about to discuss it with his new assistant, who she wasn’t too fond of. Tiffany. Barely out of college, Tiffany. Josh wasn’t kidding when he said they’d hire someone to do the very basic stuff. She was young, perky, and mostly dense. Josh stood up, but Donna drew him back down to the bed to sit next to her. 

“I have to talk to you for a second, and what I have to say isn’t going to make you the happiest of people.” She hedged. 

“What’s wrong?” His guard went immediately up. This wasn’t the most joyous of conversation starters. 

“Well, it’s that time of year again.” Donna began. 

“What time of year?” 

“The Stanley time of year.” Josh dropped his chin to his chest and sighed. “No.” he said when he looked back up at her. He stood up and moved a step or two away. 

“We’re not having this fight every year, Josh.” Donna said. 

“I don’t need Stanley.” 

“I know you don’t.” she said quickly. “But you need to see him, so he can say you don’t need him and Ron Butterfield will stay happy. That was the deal. We’ll be in California next week. I’ll call him for you. We’ll duck out, you can go see him, and we’ll slip back before anyone knows we’re gone. Then he’ll write his happy report and you don’t have to think about it again for another year.” 

“No, it’s going to make me all freaked out for the rest of the week.” He dropped back down next to her on the bed and huffed. “I hate this. It makes me feel so weak.” 

“I know you do.” Donna said taking his hand. “But believe me when I tell you that you have to be the least weak person I have ever met. And Josh, you’re not the only one who talked to someone after that. I saw someone for about six months; CJ talked to someone; Sam did.” 

“Really?” he sounded genuinely surprised by that. “I didn’t know that.” 

“Well, you were out of the office for a while.” Donna explained. “And when we did talk to you, I guess everyone felt kind of skittish about telling you that because you really took the brunt of everything that day and I guess nobody wanted to upset you.” 

“That kind of makes me feel better.” 

“Yeah? Good. It was supposed to.” Donna said. “And I’ll be there for you when you come out. I think I can employ better comfort techniques for you this time around than the last two years.” 

Josh grinned and looked up at her. “Oh, I’m already thinking some up.” 

“I’m sure you are, you pervert.” She laughed gently smacking him on the arm and standing up, pulling him with her. “Come on, let’s go back to work.” 

“And you were worried about not being able to take care of me anymore.” Josh scoffed playfully as he led her out of the room. 

TBC


	3. Puzzle, The

“Baby, are you ready to -” Josh stopped short on entering Donna’s office when he saw her standing at her desk staring in amazement at an extremely large floral bouquet. “Who the hell are those from?” he demanded. 

“Well,” Donna said tossing the notepad she was holding onto her desk, “that answers that question.” 

“There’s no card?” Josh asked walking over to her desk. 

“Nope, just this.” Donna dropped a small object into his hand. When he looked down he furrowed his brow. 

“Looks like a puzzle piece.” 

“Excellent sleuth work there, Josh.” Donna deadpanned watching him turn the piece over in his hand to examine it closer. 

“This was the only thing that came with it?” Josh asked. “You looked all through the bouquet?” 

“Yeah.” Donna confirmed. “I even called down to the security desk to see who delivered it, but it was just an area delivery service. When I called the delivery service, they said there was no card with the arrangement, just my name. The puzzle piece was tied onto the vase with a red ribbon.” 

“For God’s sake, guys, you’re making me traipse all the way over here to get you?” CJ demanded barging into Donna’s office next. “Wow!” she said noticing the bouquet. “Mi amore, that must have cost a small fortune. Well, done!” 

“They’re not from me.” Josh said sounding a little annoyed. 

“Oh shit, really? Sorry.” CJ laughed. “Who are they from then, Donna?” 

“I don’t know.” Donna confessed. “There was no card.” 

“Just this.” Josh said tossing the puzzle piece over to CJ. 

“It’s a puzzle piece.” CJ said stating the obvious. 

“Damn. See, this is why I should have finished college.” Donna said. “I would have learned how to correctly identify a puzzle piece. You guys should go work for the FBI.” 

“See, here’s the thing,” CJ began. “this is one puzzle piece. I bet that there’s going to be more gifts. Since there’s no card, I bet that the pieces of the puzzle are going to reveal who sent this. The sender is either going to send more gifts, or is going to set up some scavenger hunt or something so Donna can find more pieces.” 

“Okay. I don’t mean to sound like Neanderthal man here,” Josh piped in, “I’ll be damned if she’s going to schlep all over the city on some stupid scavenger hunt looking for pieces of a puzzle that are probably from some lunatic. She’s taken. Do I have to take out a fucking ad in the Washington Post?” 

“No, Josh. That didn’t make you sound like Neanderthal man at all. Why would you think that?” CJ said dryly tossing him back the puzzle piece. 

“All right.” Donna sighed. “We’re going to be late. At this point, we probably have to drive ourselves over to the Kennedy Center.” She walked out the door of her office and CJ followed. Holding onto the puzzle piece, Josh took one last look at the bouquet and followed the women out of the office. 

“This is going to be fun!” CJ said as they headed down to the ellipse to hopefully still make the motorcade. “I can’t wait to see what else they send you.” 

“Oh, I can.” Josh said. 

“You two are no fun.” CJ scoffed. “It’ll be a fun mystery to solve. It’ll give us something to do other than work.” 

“I don’t like people that don’t sign their name.” Josh said. “Whether or not they’re sending something good or bad, they should at least have the balls to sign their name, especially with stuff like this. Obviously, someone’s got a crush. Theoretically speaking, how is this person supposed to know whether or not she returns their feelings if they don’t sign their name? Seriously, they’re not from me, but if I was a different person, I could totally just take credit for them.” 

“That’s upstanding of you, Joshua.” CJ said as they made it to the ellipse. The motorcade was just about to leave, so they were able to get into one of the limos there. 

“I said *if* I was a different person, CJ.” Josh said as they settled into the limo with Sam and Toby. Donna slid up close to Josh and dropped her hand on his thigh. Frankly, she was a little unnerved about the whole thing. The flowers were beautiful, and she wished she had someone to thank for thinking of her, but CJ’s theory of receiving more gifts from a secret admirer and having to put together this puzzle was freaking her out a bit. 

“What are we talking about?” Sam asked the newcomers. 

“Donna got that today attached to a rather large bouquet of flowers.” Josh explained tossing the puzzle piece across the car to Sam. 

“Really?” Sam asked examining the puzzle piece. “And there was no card?” 

“Nope.” CJ said. 

“Getting back to your kindergarten roots there, Josh?” Toby said taking the puzzle piece from Sam and examining it himself. 

“It’s not from me.” Josh said. 

“Josh only sends flowers for their anniversary.” Sam added. 

“For I am a man of occasion.” 

“It’s shiny with different shades of gray.” Toby noted, more to himself than any of the car’s occupants. “I wonder if they’re all going to be like this.” 

“All?” Sam asked. 

“See!” CJ exclaimed. “I’ve got the same theory, Tobus.” 

“What theory?” Sam asked. 

“CJ seems to think that Donna’s going to keep getting gifts with more puzzle pieces or this sicko is going to make her go on some looney scavenger hunt all over the city to find more.” Josh said. “Like I’d go for that while there’s a breath in my body.” 

“Well, we’d never let her do that by herself.” CJ said dismissively with a wave. 

“We could be like the Hardy Boys!” Sam said excitedly. 

“Or like the Bloodhound Gang!” CJ agreed with her face lighting up. 

“Okay.” Toby interjected handing the puzzle piece back to Josh. “Let’s try to remember that somewhere in your upcoming busy mystery solving schedule that there’s actually a country to run and an election to win.” 

“Right.” Sam said. “And this would be a great release from all that.” 

“Or we could just turn the whole damn thing over to the FBI.” Toby replied. 

“What’s the FBI going to do? There was no threat.” CJ said. “It’s just a secret admirer. If the tone changes, then we’ll call the FBI, but for now, there’s nothing they’re going to do.” Donna cringed a little at the thought of the FBI getting involved and Josh noticed her reaction. She’d also been unusually quiet since they left her office. 

“We don’t need the FBI anyway.” Sam said. “Look how far we got in the mystery already. All we need to do is figure out who sent them and send the message to back off.” 

“And they’ll probably become quite aggressive after that.” Toby said. 

“What? Why?” CJ demanded. “Just because the guy’s romantic, doesn’t necessarily make him a lunatic.” 

“CJ, this person is spending quite a bit of money on this little wooing bit there. He probably had this puzzle custom made to fit his intention and if he’s going to pay a delivery service to bring these to the White House every time that he sends them, that’s going to add up, not to mention whatever he sends as a gift with the puzzle piece.” Toby stated. “Now, I doubt that Donna has gone through all this trouble to switch departments and change jobs to be with Josh to dump him for this deluded Romeo. So, yes, I think this guy’s going to get pissed off when he finds out there’s not a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.” 

“Okay, okay.” Josh said jumping in when he heard Donna inhale a quick breath. “Let’s drop the aggressive talk. We’re getting ahead of ourselves and you’re freaking Donna out.” 

“Sorry, Donna.” Toby mumbled. 

“Sorry, Donna.” CJ echoed. 

“The second this guy makes me nervous, I’m going to have Mike Casper all over it anyway, so it’s never going to get to that point.” Josh said. It was at that point that he took note that Donna was actually now clutching his leg, and no longer simply had her hand resting on it. He put his hand on top of hers and laced his fingers together with hers. When they pulled up in front of the Kennedy Center, he helped her out of the car, and then pulled her off to the side as the rest of the staff entered with the President and First Lady. 

“I’m not kidding around, Donna.” He said softly. “The very second this makes you feel weird I’m all over it. It doesn’t need to actually go through the FBI for me to get Mike on it.” 

“Thanks.” She said quietly. She leaned in and kissed him. He squeezed her hand and led her into building. It made her feel immensely better knowing that Josh was looking out for her. It was one of the rare moments when she didn’t mind his tendency to overreact. If what everyone was saying turned out to be true…well, she just hoped everyone was wrong. They were at a public event tonight, she was on Josh’s arm, she’d kissed him in front of the rope line. She could only have met this person in the course of her job, since she didn’t have time for anything else, so maybe they’d see her at something like this with Josh and get the hint. They were now standing in the lobby at the base of the stairs that led up to the Presidential box. The lobby was full of congresspeople, senators, lobbyists, many Donna recognized, many she didn’t. But through the entire time the senior staff was down there, Josh his arm around her waist. 

“Hey, Donna.” Greeted a voice next to them. Donna turned toward the newcomer and saw Cliff. 

“Cliff.” She smiled. “How are you?” Josh glanced over at Cliff and then back to the congressman he was engaged in a conversation with. Donna took a few steps away from Josh so she wouldn’t distract him. 

“I’m great.” He said. “I wanted to congratulate you on your new job.” 

“Oh, thanks.” She said. “It’s going well, I really like it.” 

“Yeah, it looks like things are going well for you.” Cliff looked pointedly over her shoulder at Josh. 

“Oh.” Donna blushed. “Well, there’s that, too.” 

“No, that’s really great.” Cliff said. “I’m happy for you. He really cares about you. That much has always been obvious with him.” 

Josh watched as the congressman walked away. He was just about to pull Donna away from Calley when Amy came up next to him. 

“You clean up well, J.” she quipped. 

“Thanks.” What a picture this must make, Josh thought. Donna talking to Calley, and him talking to Amy. He wondered if anybody watching them now would be able to tell that Josh and Donna were trapped by exes. 

“Can’t say I didn’t see this coming.” She said gesturing between him and Donna. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he demanded. 

“Just that.” Amy said. “You two have always been close. I’m not surprised you got together. Of course, the corpse of our relationship is still pretty warm, but I guess that’s the cost of doing business in this town.” 

Josh was just about to retort when Sam came up behind them. “Josh, the President is ready to be seated.” Sam announced gesturing towards the staircase behind them. Josh excused them and led Donna away. 

“Thanks, Sam.” Josh said as they walked up the stairs. 

“You bet, buddy.” Sam replied. “I just wish someone had done that for me with Mallory a few minutes ago.” 

“You realize she’s probably sitting with us, right?” Josh said. 

“Yeah, but now I’ll have you guys.” Sam replied. “I’ve got a cover.” 

When they got into the Presidential box suite, Donna handed a set of ear plugs to Josh for the concert. Every now and then, music still threw him off, so she’d taken to giving him ear plugs at this kind of thing, so he had the choice of not listening if he didn’t want to. He gave her a soft smile in thanks and sat down next to her. 

************************ 

Donna walked out into the upper corridor during intermission. As soon as the lights came up, Josh’s cell phone vibrated and he’d come out here to take the call. Most of the staff was still in the suite, though Toby had come out to see what the call was about. She slowly wandered down the corridor a bit taking a look at the art and pictures on the wall. She hadn’t been paying much attention to the concert. She watched the stage, but her mind was wandering too much. 

“Hey, Donna.” Someone greeted behind her. Donna turned around and smiled at the approaching congressman. Congressman Brett Douglas from Maryland, was a democrat that she dealt with often while working for Josh. He was usually reliable to vote the way the White House needed him to and he was a good ally to them, especially during the M.S. hearings. 

“Congressman.” Donna greeted with a smile. 

“Please, call me Brett.” He replied. “I think after all these years working together, we can be on a first name basis. Besides, we’re at the Kennedy Center, not the White House. Off the clock, right?” 

“I’m not sure I’m ever off the clock.” Donna laughed. 

“Well, I wanted to come over here and congratulate you on your new job.” Brett smiled. “Of course, I don’t know how helpful Josh’s new assistant is, you’re certainly missed over there.” 

“Thank you.” 

“I hope this means you’ll be free for dinner now.” Brett hedged. “You worked so much in your old job. I’m sure the First Lady isn’t near the tyrant your old boss was. She must let you out every now and then.” 

“Oh,” Donna began. “well, that’s very nice of you.” 

“Good evening, Congressman.” Donna practically let out a sigh of relief when she heard Josh’s voice. His arm curled lazily around her waste and he shook the Congressman’s hand. “Enjoying the concert?” 

“Yes.” The Congressman said slowly taking in Josh’s nearness to Donna and the position of his hand, which was currently resting low on her hip. “Looks like there was a method to the madness of the shake up in your staff after all, Josh.” 

“Yup.” Josh confirmed. 

“Well, it was nice talking to you, Donna.” Brett said nodding to her. “Good luck with the new job.” He walked away and Josh and Donna turned and faced each other. 

“You’re a popular girl tonight.” He smiled. 

“Cliff wasn’t looking to ask me to dinner.” Donna replied. 

“I’ll bet he was.” Josh replied still smiling. 

“Yeah? What about Amy? She found you pretty fast.” 

“Jealous?” 

“Of Amy?” Donna asked. “She’s lonely, and bitter, and spiteful. Why would I possibly be jealous of her?” 

“Tell me how you really feel.” Josh laughed. 

Donna sighed and looked away for a minute before returning her gaze to him, and then finally down between them. 

“Stop thinking about it.” Josh said quietly. “You’re going to get all worked up about it. CJ and Sam are just bored. They’re just looking for an outlet for something entertaining.” 

“And look how lucky I am to provide it.” She said. “Do you think what they were saying is right? Do you think this person is going to keep giving me gifts?” 

“Who knows?” Josh shrugged. “The puzzle piece would certainly suggest something like that. Otherwise, what would be the point of it?” 

“I just wish I knew who it was from so I can tell them not to bother.” Donna said lightly. Josh smiled at her comment. He was never a man of obnoxious romantic gifts and the size of the bouquet was a little disconcerting. Of course, Donna was the least materialistic woman he’d ever known. She wore her heart on her sleeve and was never one to be impressed with extravagant gifts. For crying out loud, he gave her a used book for Christmas one year and she got all choked up because of the sentiment it contained. He was pretty sure that if he put that book and its inscription up against the new skies she had actually wanted, she would have picked the book. He thought she would have taken the book home when she went to work for the First Lady, but it made the move to her new desk. He never made a comment that about how she had kept it close by. It was just a testament to the closeness of their relationship and how they’ve always been. 

“Well, I’m not sure we’ll find out who it is until the end, so just try not to let it bug you too much.” He said as the lights blinked signaling the end of intermission. 

TBC


	4. Puzzle, The

As it turned out, CJ and Toby were right. Each day the next week, a new piece of the puzzle came with a different gift. One day it was a box of chocolates, one day it was a teddy bear, one day it was roses. Two of the pieces so far fit together. CJ had set up a magnetic board in her office, and would glue little magnets to the back of the pieces, so when a new one would come, they could put it up on the board and see if it would fit. Donna was a little embarrassed by the attention she was getting over this. Each day, they came at the same time, 3 o’clock. She’d walk it down to CJ’s office with the puzzle piece and they’d attach it to the board. Carol would call the other assistants, and Margaret, Ginger, Carol, Bonnie and Kathy would gather in CJ’s office to discuss the new piece and possibilities of what it might be, usually, Sam would join them. 

Late one night, while Donna was in Pennsylvania with the First Lady, Toby found Josh in CJ’s office on his way out for the night. There was just CJ’s desk lamp on and Josh was standing before the board studying it. 

“It’s certainly drawing a lot of attention.” Toby said. 

“Yeah.” Josh replied. 

“CJ told me that Katie from the press corps has started documenting it too. She’s keeping track of the gifts that come with them.” Toby said. Josh’s eyes shot over to the corner of CJ’s office where the pile of gifts was growing each day. Donna didn’t want them in her office, and Josh didn’t want CJ to get rid of them yet. This whole thing was giving him a bad feeling. He had even gone so far as to have Donna’s assistant take digital pictures of the floral arrangements before she took them over to GW to donate them. 

“Are you heading out soon?” Toby asked. 

“Mike Casper’s on his way over.” Josh replied looking over at Toby. 

“Aren’t these still coming without a card or anything?” Toby asked draping his suit jacket over CJ’s couch and moving to look at the puzzle next to Josh. 

“Yeah.” Josh said running a hand over his chin and crossing an arm. “But here’s the thing, Toby. Donna’s in Pennsylvania today with the First Lady. She’s coming home tomorrow morning.” 

“Okay.” 

“She didn’t get anything today. Nothing came.” Josh explained. He studied Toby’s face and saw Toby’s expression change as Toby realized the same thing Josh had thought. 

“So this is someone that knew she wouldn’t be here today to receive the gift.” Toby said voicing Josh’s thought out loud. Josh didn’t have to say anything else because Josh’s assistant came into the office escorting Mike with Sam a few paces behind him. 

“Thanks, Tiffany.” Toby said dismissing the assistant. 

“This is it?” Mike asked gesturing to the board. 

“Yup.” Josh said. Mike turned around and found the light switch to CJ’s overhead lights and turned them on. He walked over to the board and pulled out special glasses, almost like a jeweler would use and put them on. He pulled a puzzle piece off the board and examined it through the spectacles. He looked at it for a minute or two, then put it back on the board and took the glasses off. He leaned in closer to the board and examined the other pieces, then took a few steps back and stood next to Josh. 

“Those the gifts that are coming with them?” he asked gesturing over to the corner. 

“Yeah.” Josh answered. 

“Any flowers ever come?” 

“Twice. We took pictures of them and sent them over to GW.” 

“But you took pictures?” Mike said. Josh nodded and Mike gave him a small smile. “You hang around me too much. It’s scary when people start to think like me. Have they ever sent roses?” 

“The other day. It was two dozen red roses.” Sam piped in. 

“Quite the Casanova this guy is.” Mike nodded. “It’s a black and white photograph he’s sending her.” Mike said finally gesturing to the board. 

“Really?” Toby asked studying the pieces again closer. “That’s what I thought, too.” 

“A photo of what?” Sam asked. 

“Probably Donna.” Mike said with a shrug. 

Josh put his hands on his hips, turned around, took a step away and then turned back to the other occupants. “Okay. I’m getting less and less amused by this guy. This guy is close enough to take a picture of her?” 

“You said that she didn’t get one today, that’s she’s out of the office?” Mike confirmed. 

“Yeah, she’s with the First Lady in Pennsylvania.” Toby supplied as Josh started to pace in front of C.J.’s desk. 

“So it’s somebody that can get access to her schedule.” Mike said. “I would think they can also get close enough to take a picture. It could be anyone in this town though. There’s 500 members of Congress, 100 Senators, their staff, 1300 people working in this building. It’s not hard to get a hold of the First Lady’s schedule. And any number of those people can get close enough at any given time to have taken a picture of her.” 

“Mike, is there *anything* that can be done?” Sam asked. 

“Officially? No, no one’s made a threat to her. Nothing she’s received is threatening her safety at all. Is it freaky? Sure. But not threatening at the moment.” Mike said. “But, Josh is my friend, and it always helps to have a friend in the FBI. I can investigate the delivery service on my own a bit and see how the deliveries are being paid for, though I assume in cash. I can find out who’s dropping them off to the delivery service or if the courier is picking them up from somewhere. I mean, I can’t open a case for it, but there are things I can do.” 

Josh stopped pacing and slammed an open hand on CJ’s desk. The three other occupants jumped a second in surprise and turned to him. 

“She’s perfectly safe, Josh.” Sam said. 

“Really?” Josh said completely unconvinced. “Until when? Until the puzzle’s done and this psycho finally signs his name and she lets him down? Toby’s right. Look how much time and money this guy’s putting into this. If he didn’t just walk up and ask her out, there’s not something right in his head. She’s totally freaked out by this, Sam. She’s losing sleep over it.” 

“She’s got you, Josh, and she works in a fortress.” Sam reminded. “Right now, she’s with the First Lady, who travels with several armed guards.” 

“Those armed guards aren’t paid to protect Donna, Sam.” Josh sighed. “And we all know that just because someone travels with the President doesn’t mean they’re immune from harm. And Mike’s right. This guy probably works on the Hill or in this building. It’s not like the First Lady’s schedule is released to the nightly news. The hot dog vendor outside doesn’t have access to it.” 

“Has anyone shown any interest in Donna lately?” Mike asked turning the conversation back to safer ground. “Shown any interest in taking her out?” 

“Brett Lewis asked her to dinner last week, but he didn’t seem too destroyed to find out we were together.” Josh said. 

“The congressman?” Mike smirked. “I thought those guys all knew she was off limits.” 

“I think the general thought up there was that Donna transferred because Josh and Donna broke up and not that they got together.” Toby said. “I think Donna’s new job signaled her availability.” 

“Are you kidding me?” Josh asked him more than a little astonished. 

“I hear things, too.” Toby shrugged. 

“Well, this person probably doesn’t care so much about whether or not she’s got a boyfriend. He probably does know. He’s probably banking on his big gesture here to steal her away.” Mike explained. 

“Well, then this guy doesn’t know Donna.” Sam scoffed gesturing over to the presents. “That’s not the kind of thing that impresses her. She just wants someone who’s sweet.” 

“Which still doesn’t explain why she chose Josh.” Toby quipped. 

“Well, I don’t think he’s a threat to Josh and Donna’s relationship, any rational person can see the way she feels about Josh.” Mike said. “Whether or not he poses a threat to Donna unfortunately remains to be seen.” 

“She probably shouldn’t know about this conversation.” Toby said. 

“She definitely shouldn’t know about this conversation.” Josh agreed. 

“I’ll get the name of the delivery service from the security desk.” Mike said as he moved toward the door. “I’ll let you know what I find out.” 

“Thanks, Mike.” Josh said as they watched Mike leave the office. Sam turned and shut the lights back off and turned to Toby and Josh. 

“Scared is a bit of an understatement of what I feel right now.” Josh confessed with a sigh, rubbing his eyes with the fingers of one hand. 

“Well, for now, the staff’s still having fun with it.” Sam said. “CJ’s keeping all the stuff in here, so Donna doesn’t have to look at it every day. We just have to wait it out and see what Mike comes up with.” 

“It’s starting to take a toll on her though.” Josh said. “She’s hardly sleeping; she’s not eating very much.” 

“Maybe we should consider having security not let the deliveries through.” Sam suggested. 

“No.” Toby said firmly. “This is the best place for them to come; the place where there’s massive security. If we stop them, they’ll start having them delivered to her home. Maybe right now they don’t know where she lives.” 

“Well, she’s mostly at my place.” Josh said. “We’re never really at her apartment, I don’t have a roommate.” 

“That was more information than I needed.” Toby said. 

“I’m not saying it to be crude.” Josh said. “I’m just saying it. It’s Donna’s choice. Her roommate isn’t too fond of me; Donna’s afraid if we’re there too much we could give her roommate ammo against me or something.” 

“I thought Donna liked her roommate.” Sam said. 

“She likes her well enough. But she still tries to keep the White House shielded from unwanted press and that includes incriminating stories about me.” 

“Incriminating?” Smiled Sam. “Just how loud do you get, Josh?” 

“Everything Sam.” Josh corrected ignoring his friend’s jab. “If we drink too much, or get into an argument, which with us isn’t exactly unheard of. She’s just paranoid over my reputation. She doesn’t want her roommate to be able to say anything bad about me. Besides, that doesn’t matter anyway. I’m just saying, she’s usually at my place is all.” 

“Well, I don’t think it matters.” Toby said softly. “He probably knows where she lives and where she stays.” 

“Well, then I fall back on my previous comments regarding safety and fear.” Josh said darkly. He took one last look at the magnetic board, and resisting the urge to throw something at it, left CJ’s office. 

“Well, looks like Donna isn’t the only one affected by all this.” Toby said to Sam, then picked up his jacket from the couch and followed Josh’s path out of the office. 

TBC


	5. Puzzle, The

Donna made her way over to the operations bullpen upon her return to the White House the next day. She didn’t sleep well last night without Josh, not that she’d been sleeping well lately anyway. Most nights she only fell asleep when she was too exhausted to keep her eyes open anymore. Josh had suggested her seeing a doctor to get some sleeping pills to help her, but she wasn’t too keen on that idea. 

This whole stupid thing was starting to affect her when she had promised herself she wouldn’t let it. Why did this person take such an interest in her? Was it someone she knew? It must not be because anyone she interacted with on a daily basis knew that she and Josh were together. They would know that she wasn’t interested in dating anybody else. Maybe it was an ex-boyfriend? None of them really seemed to be the type for something like this. She thought if they didn’t do something romantic like this while they were dating, why would they do it now? Of course, her mother had told her that she’d run into her ex-boyfriend Matt working in an emergency room in Madison and he had told her mother that he had just gotten divorced and asked how Donna was doing. But Matt was too self-centered to show someone this much attention. 

Josh told her this morning that nothing came for her yesterday. She had found that odd at first and when she commented on that to Josh, he told her that it was probably because she wasn’t there to receive it. He had sounded a little strained on the phone this morning talking to her. When she asked if he was all right, he said that he was just tired because he was here late last night. She didn’t buy that excuse, but kept it to herself. She knew this was bugging him too; that he was feeling powerless to stop it. Powerlessness was a feeling that did not reside in harmony with Josh. 

He had all the doors to his office open and rather than go to the door that lead out to the bullpen, she stopped at the side door instead and quietly leaned up against the frame. He didn’t hear her approach. He had his head down, resting on a hand as he was reading the contents a large binder. She watched him for a minute. She missed watching him work; missed watching the intensity he gave various different projects. 

“You’re going to ruin your eyes if you don’t get better lighting in here.” She said finally. His head snapped up at the sound of her voice. He popped out of his chair, closed the door to the bullpen, then pulled her through the door she was standing in and closed that one, too. Before Donna knew what was happening, she was in his arms. He had an overwhelming urge to just touch her since last night, and ensure that she really was okay. This lunatic was making *him* crazy now. His conversation last night in CJ’s office had him thoroughly freaked out, and now he was driven to distraction when she was out of his sight. A couple of days ago, it didn’t matter as much, but once Mike had voiced the thought that the sender of the puzzle and gifts might work in the building, it nearly sent Josh over the edge. Last night, he had thought about having her transfer back to work for him so that he could watch her outside his office and always know she was safe, but he knew Leo would never go for it, not now that they were together. 

“Are you all right?” she asked with concern. She pulled back and looked into his eyes. He was very obviously worried about her. He was giving her his concerned look, and now it was making her concerned. “What happened?” 

“Nothing.” He said quickly. “I’m fine; it’s nothing. I’m just glad you’re back. I told you, I’m all messed up when you’re not around.” 

“This isn’t your missing me look.” Donna said shaking her head. “This is the look you gave me when I got the flu real bad last year. What’s going on, Josh?” 

“Nothing’s going on, baby.” He said again. “I’m just glad you’re back. I’m tired. I didn’t sleep well last night.” 

“You and me both.” She replied. 

“Josh?” CJ’s voice came over his intercom. 

“Yeah?” 

“Is Donna back yet?” 

“Yeah, she’s in here.” 

“Her assistant just brought me today’s gift.” 

Josh sighed and dropped his forehead to Donna’s. 

“Okay.” He said. They heard CJ disconnect, but neither one of them had moved yet. 

“Fuck.” Josh swore quietly. 

“Josh,” Donna said. “come on, what’s going on?” 

“I’m just tired of this guy, Donna.” He said running a hand through his hair. “I wish I knew who it was so I could tell him to back the hell off.” 

“Josh, I don’t think it’s going to mean so much coming from you.” Donna said. 

“Wanna make a bet?” he retorted. “Me, a couple of off-duty agents and Mike, I think I’ll get my point across.” He moved to open the door as Donna stood there for a minute in shock. Josh may get loud when he gets frustrated, but he was not a violent person. Josh fought with words, not with hands. 

“Josh,” Donna said as he put his hand on the door. The tone of her voice stopped him immediately. She walked over to him and brought her hands up to his face. “I want you to promise me that when we find out who this is, you won’t do anything like that.” 

“Donna…” 

“No, Josh.” She said shaking her head. “Stuff like that would look bad for everyone involved. You can’t do that kind of stuff for me, and I won’t let you.” He paused and looked at her. Truth be told, he didn’t realize that he’d even considered something like that until he said it. Trouble was, he knew exactly which agents he could ask. But she was standing there now, giving him that look that he hated when she gave it to him, and he knew that he couldn’t do anything that would cause her more pain. 

“I won’t do anything like that.” He promised softly. 

“Thank you.” 

“Unless he threatens you, Donna.” Josh qualified. “This guy makes one threatening move toward you and all bets are off.” 

It was really the best she could hope for, she determined. If this guy actually threatened her, she knew the President would get the secret service involved anyway. She and Abbey had had a little chat on the plane this morning. It seemed that the President was actually fully apprised of the situation. Abbey reminded Donna that the President was very fond of her and was ready to sic the secret service on the job as soon as there was evidence of an actual threat. Donna didn’t know if she was comforted by that information or if it made her more nervous. 

They walked through the bullpen to CJ’s office. CJ was just finishing gluing the magnet to the new puzzle piece when they entered her office. “I didn’t open the package yet.” She said gesturing to the square brown parcel on the couch. I just took the puzzle piece off it. 

“Does it tick?” Josh asked only half-kidding as Sam and Toby entered the office, too. 

“Well, I shook it up by my ear and I still have my face, so I’m thinking its okay.” CJ replied. “Plus, you know, it made it through security, so I’m sure there’s nothing harmful in there.” 

“Well, that’s a matter of degrees.” Josh muttered. Sam and Toby were the only ones who heard it. Donna stared down at the package like it was going to jump off the couch and bite her. She really had no further interest in any of these gifts anymore. She had briefly wondered this morning if she started refusing the packages if this person would get the hint. But the First Lady suggested that the sender might start sending them to her apartment or Josh’s apartment instead and Donna couldn’t stomach getting her roommate involved like that, or having this guy know where Josh lived. For the meantime, she felt safe at Josh’s place. She didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize that. 

“You want me to open it?” Josh asked her. 

She shook her head and picked up the package. It was relatively light. She pulled off the brown wrapping and it revealed a frame. When she pulled the rest of the wrapping off and turned the frame over, she gasped and pushed it back to the couch out of her hands. 

“What is it?” Sam demanded immediately picking it up. He flipped it over and furrowed his brows. “It’s a Norman Rockwell print.” He said not understanding the reaction Donna had to it. 

CJ took the frame from Sam’s hands and studied it. “Well, now I think we know what this guy is looking to get at the end of this.” She said. 

“I don’t get it.” Sam said. 

“The name of this piece is The Marriage License.” CJ supplied. “This is two people applying for a marriage license. Up until now, it was one of my favorites.” 

“I gotta get out of here.” Donna said pushing through everyone and racing out of CJ’s office. Without a word, Josh ran after her. He followed her quickly through the corridors and right out into the Rose Garden. She dropped to her knees in the grass and tried to catch her breath in gulps. For a minute, Josh thought she was going to be sick. He dropped down next to her and rubbed her back. He could see people stopping and looking for a minute through the glass and he gently pulled her up and led her over to a bench. They sat down and he continued to rub her back as she got her breathing under control, then she started to cry. She stood up and began to pace, a borrowed habit from him, then she started to yell. 

“WHAT THE FUCK, JOSH!?” she yelled. Josh noticed a few of the marines and secret service agents stationed outside turn their heads to them. “What is the matter with this guy? And why did he pick me? I don’t understand. Does he really think I’m that dimwitted that I’m going to fall in love with some nameless guy that sends these crazy gifts but nothing else? This guy thinks I’m going to run off with him? Why? Why is he doing this?” She stopped where she was and started to sob. Josh stood up and wrapped his arms around her while she cried. He held her close until she finally calmed down. 

“Got that off your chest now?” he smiled. 

“Sorry.” She said pulling back and wiping a hand over the wet spot on his shirt. 

“Don’t be.” he said. “I’m surprised you didn’t lose it before.” 

“Yeah, but you didn’t sign on for this.” She continued with a pained smile. “This is a lot to put up with.” 

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” 

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Just that this is a lot for a guy to take on, and --” 

“Sign on … Are you kidding me?” he demanded. “Donna, I’m not some guy you met in a bar a few weeks ago.” 

“I know.” 

“Then don’t treat me like that.” He huffed backing up a step or two. 

“I’m sorry.” She said quietly. “I’m just getting scared now. And what if something happens to you when it’s supposed to happen to me?” He paused and looked at her. 

“Donna, what do you think’s going to happen to you?” he asked cautiously turning back to her. 

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. 

“Donna?” he asked again. 

“I don’t know.” She said again. “It wasn’t until today’s delivery that I really got a bad feeling about it all. And if something happened to you because of me…” she broke off, unable to meet his eyes. He sighed and turned back to her. He didn’t think he’d ever seen her look so lost or so innocent. He hated this guy for what he was doing to her, and now what he was doing to them, which he supposed was the point. 

“Donna,” Josh said. “don’t you see, this is what he wants. Not only that, but how could you think I’d leave you with something like this? You saw me through last Christmas when I wouldn’t have blamed you in the slightest if you left. You did way more than anyone could have possibly expected of you when I was recovering. Why would you think I wouldn’t do the same for you?” 

Josh could see that she was starting to tear up again. He sighed and pulled her back into his arms. “Hey, hey, hey.” He said. “Since when have you and I together not been able to handle something?” 

She smiled at him and even gave him a little laugh. “Never.” 

“Never.” He confirmed. “So we have precedent.” 

“Okay.” She said stepping back and wiping her eyes. “Sorry, I’m such a basketcase. I keep crying all over you.” 

“I like when you cry all over me.” 

“No, you hate when I cry.” 

“Yeah, but I love when you do anything all over me, so it’s a small price to pay.” 

TBC


	6. Puzzle, The

CJ stood studying at the board in her office. When the first puzzle piece had come, she had been intrigued and excited at the prospect of the mystery. Now, it all seemed a little spooky. Another week of gifts had gone by. They were getting to be more romantic in nature: a delicate music box, a book of poetry, a copy of Romeo and Juliet, a box of scented candles and bubble bath, all of which were piled in the corner of her office. Toby had told her about the conversation with Mike Casper, and CJ briefly wondered if he’d be coming to get them soon. They might be able to get finger prints of the sender off them. 

Apparently, the delivery service that brought the gifts to the White House each day was turning out to be a dead end. As predicted, it was paid for in cash and the packages were actually delivered to the delivery service by another delivery service. The second delivery service said that the packages were dropped off to them after business hours. Unfortunately, since the FBI hadn’t officially opened a case on it yet, Mike didn’t have the man power to put a stake out on the first delivery service yet. 

With another week of puzzle pieces, the puzzle was starting to take shape. Pieces that weren’t fitting before were fitting now. Mike was right. It was a photograph and the subject to the picture was starting to take shape. CJ glanced down the corridor and saw that Josh’s office light was still on. She made her way down and found him sitting at his desk with his feet propped up and a folder open in his lap. 

“You’re here late again.” CJ noted walking in. 

“Donna’s coming back from Phoenix now.” Josh informed. “I was just waiting for her.” CJ nodded. She knew Donna was out of town. And even if she didn’t, she would have guessed since that day and the day before, no puzzle pieces came. 

“How are you doing?” CJ asked sitting down in one of his visitor’s chairs and propping her feet up on his desk, as well. 

“Fine.” He said glancing up at her. 

“Seriously.” 

“I’m okay.” He looked back down at the folder in his lap, but the truth was, he had stopped reading it about half an hour ago. Try as he might, he felt that he just couldn’t see what was on the pages before him. 

“This whole puzzle thing is getting to be a bit overwhelming.” CJ noted cautiously. After the scene in her office last week, followed by the scene in the Rose Garden, which she had also heard about, she was beginning to be overly cautious of even bringing this subject up around either one of them. 

“Yeah.” Was Josh’s only response. 

“The thing is,” CJ continued. “I think I have a theory on what it’s a picture of.” Josh looked up at her then, and this time, didn’t break his gaze. 

“Really?” 

“Yeah.” CJ replied. “That thing’s in my office and so I tend to look at it a lot, and tonight, it finally occurred to me what it might be.” 

“Do I want to know this?” 

“Probably not.” 

“What do you think it is?” he asked resigned to hear the answer anyway. 

“Well, given the Norman Rockwell print gift from last week, I’m kind of thinking that it’s starting to look like a woman in a wedding dress.” 

Josh paused for a minute while he let that soak in. Suddenly, he was in motion. He tossed the folder on his desk and launched himself out of his chair. CJ hurried after him as they made their way back to her office. Once inside, she flipped on the lights so they could see it better. Josh stood in front of the board with his hands on his hips. The bottom half of the puzzle was almost complete, and there were what appeared to be a quarter of the pieces for the top half. The white of a dress was readily apparent, and Josh had to admit that he was starting to see what CJ thought she was seeing. 

“Mike Casper thinks he’s sending a picture of Donna.” Josh said. 

“He might be.” 

“Donna’s never been married.” Josh stated. “Where would he get a picture of her in a wedding dress?” 

“He could have superimposed it on her.” CJ theorized. 

“This guy’s a sicko.” Josh said in disgust. “Every time I look at this thing, I want to throw something at it.” 

“Down boy.” Said a familiar voice from the doorway. Josh and CJ turned around to find Abbey Bartlet standing behind them. 

“Good evening, ma’am. Welcome back.” Josh greeted. 

“So, this is it?” Abbey asked moving over to the board. “I’ve heard about it, but I haven’t actually gotten to see it yet.” 

She looked at the puzzle for a minute and then turned to Josh. “Donna’s in the residence, Josh.” Abbey explained. “But I have to talk to you for a minute first.” 

“Okay.” Why did he have such a bad feeling at this moment? 

“Something kind of happened while we were away.” Abbey began. 

“Is she all right?” he asked quickly. 

“She’s absolutely fine.” Abbey assured. “In fact, she’s upstairs sleeping at the moment.” Josh let a breath out and sat down on CJ’s couch. He knew he wasn’t going to like what Abbey had to say, but it would be easier to stomach knowing that she was all right. 

Or so he thought. 

“It seems as if Donna’s new friend here has tried to actually make some kind of contact.” Abbey said. 

“What?” Josh asked softly. 

“He left her a gift in her hotel room.” The First Lady said. 

“WHAT?!” Josh jumped off the couch to his feet. “HOW THE HELL DID HE GET IN HER HOTEL ROOM?” 

“Again, I want to remind you that she’s absolutely fine, Josh.” Abbey repeated. “She wasn’t in her room at the time.” 

CJ moved over to Josh and put a comforting hand on his arm. 

“The secret service doesn’t think it was him exactly in there, they think he paid someone on the housekeeping staff to leave it in there.” Abbey continued. 

“Why do they think that?” CJ asked. 

“Because nothing of Donna’s was actually disturbed; nothing was stolen.” Abbey continued. “They think if it was him, he would have taken something personal.” 

“Was it a gift with a puzzle piece?” CJ asked. 

“No. There were no pieces with it. It was a CD with a note on it, tied with a red ribbon.” Abbey replied. “The secret service moved all Donna’s stuff to my suite and she spent last night with me, though she never actually slept.” 

“But she’s upstairs sleeping now.” Josh said. 

“Yes.” 

“Mrs. Bartlet, this doesn’t make any sense.” He said. “If this guy was in her room, or paid someone to go into her room, her private space, she’d be freaking out right now. How is it exactly that she’s sleeping?” 

“I slipped her a mickey on the plane.” Abbey hedged. CJ cracked a grin and Josh rolled his eyes. 

“Better you than me, I suppose.” He said shaking his head. 

“She looked horrible, Josh.” Abbey apologized. “I know she hasn’t been sleeping well, and after last night, well, she was dead on her feet this morning. She had to get sleep. It wasn’t strong. She can be woken up, if need be, though I imagine she’d be pretty groggy.” 

“Can I go up there?” 

“Of course you can.” Abbey relented. “I’ve already told the agents to expect you. She’s in the Pierce Bedroom. But Josh, she was really freaked out last night.” 

“I would imagine.” He sighed, wishing he could have been there with her. 

“What was on the CD?” CJ asked. 

“It was a Shania Twain song.” Abbey said. “From This Moment. The secret service printed the lyrics out to add to the list of gifts.” She handed a folded piece of paper to CJ, who opened it up, glanced over it and with a heavy stomach, handed it to Josh. 

“I know the song.” He said darkly. “This guy’s a psycho.” 

“Jed’s authorized a detail starting tomorrow morning.” Abbey told Josh. “Mike Casper will organize a team of FBI agents. He’ll be talking to you about that in the morning.” 

“Thank God!” he exclaimed. 

“Josh, why don’t you go upstairs and see her?” Abbey suggested. “She really wanted to see you. She’s pretty scared.” 

Josh didn’t need to be told twice. He immediately turned and left the office. 

CJ looked down at the printed piece of paper in her hands. “I give my hand to you with all my heart; Can't wait to live my life with you, can't wait to start; You and I will never be apart; My dreams came true because of you.” She quoted. “Josh is right, this guy is nuts.” 

“And that’s not all of it.” Abbey hedged. CJ took note of the guilty tone to her voice. 

“There’s more?” 

“There was a typed note, but I thought if I told him that now, he’d go round the bend for sure.” 

“What did it say?” 

“`I didn’t mean to make you cry.’” Abbey replied. 

“You think he was talking about last week?” CJ asked referring to the incident in the Rose Garden. Abbey slowly nodded her head and CJ was filled with a feeling of dread. 

“So, he does work in this building.” 

TBC


	7. Puzzle, The

Josh took the stairs to the Residence two at a time, rushing right by the secret service agents lining the corridors. He went right into the Pierce Bedroom, barely taking note of the agent outside the door. He burst through the door and let out a long, relieved breath when he saw her sleeping in the bed. He knew the First Lady wouldn’t have lied to him about the fact that she was all right, but he wouldn’t really believe it until he saw it for himself. 

He walked over to the bed and sat down beside her, brushing the hair back from her face. She stirred and cracked her eyelids. “Josh?” she murmured. 

“Yeah, it’s me.” 

“Are you staying?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Good.” 

She closed her eyes again and drifted back off to sleep. He could see the dark circles under her eyes, and while studying her face, he noticed that her lack of appetite was also beginning to show. Donna was thin enough as it was, she really didn’t have any weight to lose. He stripped down to his t-shirt and boxers and climbed into bed with her, but he sat up against the headboard instead of lying down. She immediately wrapped her arms around his waist and curled into his lap. 

He continued to stroke her hair and think about what CJ had said that evening. The more he thought about it, and factored in the CD that she was sent, the more he thought CJ was right. This was going to be a picture of Donna in a wedding dress. Finally she was going to get some sort of armed security. That made him feel immensely better. But a nagging thought still stuck with him. This guy got to her outside the White House; in Arizona no less. Was he at the hotel? The thought of this guy closing in and trying to make direct contact literally turned his stomach. 

Donna couldn’t figure out why he picked her. Josh saw a hundred reasons every day why this guy focused on her. She was beautiful, she was a good person, she was friendly. Donna just had that way about her when she was speaking to someone that they always had her undivided attention. She never made anyone feel like they weren’t worth her time, or she was too busy to talk to them. Then there was the way she got doe-eyed when she was learning something new. He could definitely think of many, many reasons why this guy would pick Donna. But who was it? 

He finally began to have a hard time keeping his eyes open and he gently lay down in the bed and gathered her close. 

************************** 

Donna slowly swam up from the dark depths of sleep and blinked a few times to clear her head. She sat up on her elbows and looked around the room. She was in the Residence, but she didn’t remember getting there. She looked down at herself and saw that she was in her pajamas that she had taken on the trip with her. Not only did she not remember going up to the Residence last night, but she didn’t remember getting changed. The last thing she remembered was the First Lady offering her water on the plane and she had accepted it. She must have slipped something in it. Donna always knew the First Lady was a crafty one. 

She was alone in the bed. She rolled over and gathered the pillow next to her into her arms and hugged it to her. She smiled as she realized that it smelled of Josh. He must have come to join her last night. She glanced around her again, and saw his backpack in the corner. 

The smile faded from her face as she realized he must have been out of his mind with worry last night. She was sure that Mrs. Bartlet would have informed him of what happened in Arizona when she got back. She must have if he had come up here last night. She could easily envision him freaking out about it in her head. She shivered to herself when she thought of the CD and the note, and when she thought about how he must have seen her and Josh out in the Rose Garden last week. Abbey had agreed with her when Donna had voiced that she suspected this guy worked in the White House. 

“Donna?” Abbey called softly from the other side of the door. 

“Yes, ma’am, I’m up.” 

“Why don’t you get dressed and come out and talk with Jed and me for a minute.” 

Donna didn’t like the sound of that. She sighed as she made her way over to her suitcase and quickly changed into a casual set of clothes she had brought with her. It was Saturday, so she was pretty sure that the President and First Lady would be out there in jeans. She ducked into that bathroom that joined the Pierce Bedroom and quickly washed her face, brushed her teeth and threw her hair up into a pony tail. She paused for a second while she was putting on her shoes. Should she make the bed? She knew the Residence had maids, but she also didn’t want to be an ungrateful guest. Of course, she hadn’t actually agreed to even be a guest. She decided she’d deal with the bed when she came back in for her suitcase. She opened the door and stepped out into the Residence’s sitting room. As predicted, the President and First Lady were out there and dressed casually. 

“Coffee Donna?” the President offered. 

“Thank you, sir.” Donna said. Normally, she would have refused as to not bother the President but her head was cloudy, and it wasn’t like he was going to get it for her himself. He waived over a steward and Donna put in her request. Donna sat down on the couch across from the President and First Lady. 

“Sleep okay?” Abbey asked. 

“Yes, ma’am.” Donna refrained from commenting that it was unlikely that she wouldn’t have slept well, given her chemical induced state last night. 

“Good.” Jed smiled. “We’d like to talk to you about Josh for a minute.” Donna’s heart immediately fell into her stomach. 

“What happened?” she demanded. 

“He’s okay.” Abbey said. 

“But something happened?” Donna asked anxiously. 

“Yes.” The President said. “Josh left here this morning to go back to his apartment to get changed. There he was going to meet Mike Casper and they were going to head over to your apartment so your security detail could check it out. While he was walking up the stairs to his apartment, someone tried to jump him.” Donna gasped and her hand flew up to her mouth. “He’s okay.” Jed assured hastily. “It happened right as Agent Casper and the others got there, so all that really happened was he got knocked over. A few of the agents chased the guy for a while, but lost him.” 

“Did he have a weapon?” Donna asked quietly. 

“They didn’t see one.” The President replied. 

“But that doesn’t mean he didn’t have one.” Donna said. 

“No.” Abbey agreed. “It doesn’t mean he didn’t have one. But Donna, he’s okay. He’s on his way back here from your apartment now with the FBI agents.” 

“And he’ll arrive here to find out that he’s getting a detail now, too.” The President said. “You two will both have a detail, even in this building, especially in this building. You’ll have FBI agents that will go everywhere with you, including standing outside your office doors. If he works in this building, we’ll have to up security here, too.” 

“I’m so sorry to cause all these problems.” Donna apologized softly. 

“Donna, honey, you aren’t causing us any problems.” Abbey assured. “This jackass is. He’s the one who’s giving us all a headache.” 

“Does this mean the FBI is going to take all the stuff from CJ’s office then?” Donna asked hopefully. 

“Mike’s going to let the gifts continue to come as they have been.” The President explained. “If this guy sees that you’re not getting them anymore, he may stop all together and it diminishes our chances of catching him. He may try something else. He’s getting a little more bold if he’s going after Josh.” 

“I was wondering when he was going to try something with him.” Donna confessed. “It just seemed that this guy knows me, and he would have seen me and Josh together. In his head, I’ve been wondering if he thinks if he gets Josh out of the way, I’d be more receptive.” 

“That’s what we thought this morning, too.” Abbey agreed. “The FBI agents will take you back to your apartment when they get back with Josh. If you feel more comfortable, Mike said you can get some stuff and continue to stay at Josh’s place. I know after this morning, Josh has already said he wanted you to.” 

“I’ll bet he has.” Donna laughed. “Mr. President, you’ll be lucky if Josh doesn’t plead with you to just lock me back up in the Pierce Bedroom.” 

“Much as I’d like to do that myself, Donna, that’s not going to help snuff this guy out.” The President said solemnly. “This guy wants to see this through to the end. He wants you know who he is. He sees this as the ultimate romantic gesture and he’s going to want everyone to know who he is. If we hide you away, he’ll stop until you emerge. We can’t keep you up here forever. I mean, there is an election coming up and I suppose it can be argued that I might not live here for much longer.” 

“Don’t be surprised if CJ and the other assistants start to get more vocal about the gifts.” Abbey said. “Mike has a theory that if the sender hears them talking about it and talking him up, he’ll get more bold to reveal himself. He’s obviously trying to impress you.” 

“Well, not trying to beat up my boyfriend would definitely be a start.” Donna said dryly. As if the comment conjured the man, Josh entered the sitting room with Mike Casper and four other agents in tow. When Donna saw him, she flew out of her seat and flung herself at him. She clutched him tightly by the shirt and he held her tight. 

“I’m fine.” He said softly in her ear, so no one else could hear. She looked at him and her eyes welled up with tears. “Donna, don’t…” he started. “Come on, Donna, don’t cry. There’s people here.” She shook her head at him and then buried her face in his sternum. 

“Sorry, sir.” Josh said meekly looking over to the President. The President waived a hand dismissively and once Josh was able to pry Donna’s fingers off him, he led her over to the sitting area with Mike so they could discuss the new security arrangements. 

TBC


	8. Puzzle, The

Donna walked down the corridor towards CJ’s office Monday afternoon with that day’s gift, her FBI agent trailing behind her. She got to CJ’s office the same time Josh and his agent did. 

“That it?” he asked nodding toward the gift bag in her hand. She nodded her head in the affirmative and fingered the puzzle piece. It was another gray and white piece. No one had mentioned to Donna the theory of what the picture was. After her reaction to the print, Josh didn’t want to get her that upset again for what was still merely a theory, though it was beginning to seem like the logical one. 

They entered CJ’s office and Carol made her phone rounds. Rather than wait for the audience, Donna reached right in and pulled out a box from Tiffany’s. She sighed and looked up at Josh who rolled his eyes and turned away. CJ logged onto the Tiffany’s website. She intended to look up the piece of jewelry when Donna opened the box. If someone had told Donna that the day would come when she would be reluctantly opening a jewelry box from Tiffany’s, she never would have believed it. But here she was, wishing this was given to someone else. She knew whatever was inside would be beautiful. She opened the box and pulled out a breathtaking sterling silver, triple bangle bracelet linked by two hearts. CJ’s eyes went wide and she searched the bracelet. Ginger and Bonnie gasped immediately upon entering the room, followed by Margaret and Carol, and Donna freely gave up the bracelet to allow it to be pawed by the new arrivals. 

“$250.” CJ announced easily finding the bracelet on the website. “Nice taste.” 

“Is there anything else?” Josh asked looking back to Donna. She looked in the bag and found a folded piece of paper, as CJ began to glue the magnet to the puzzle piece to add it to the board. 

“Well, it won’t be too hard to talk about this.” Margaret said as she gingerly fingered the bracelet. Donna unfolded the piece of paper, then after reading it, handed it to Josh with a shaking hand. 

“What’s it say?” CJ asked. 

“My patience is wearing thin with this fling. Time to wrap it up. I want you to be as pure as possible when we’re together again.” Josh read softly. He handed the note to Donna’s agent and looked back over to her. He could tell she was trying very hard to keep it together. 

“I don’t suppose it’s handwritten.” CJ said dryly. 

“No, it’s typed.” The agent said. 

“Again.” CJ repeated. “Finally some kind of lead; maybe it is an ex-boyfriend.” 

“I haven’t dated anyone that works here.” Donna said quietly. She watched as Josh ushered the assistants out of CJ’s office and dropped the bracelet back into the box. 

“You dated Cliff.” he reminded her. 

“He doesn’t work here.” 

“He could have been in the building that day we were in the Rose Garden.” 

“You said that guy that came after you was tall.” Donna countered. “Cliff’s not that tall.” 

“The guy could have been hired by him.” Josh suggested. Donna didn’t find it likely, but at this point, she didn’t necessarily find anything unlikely either. 

“It doesn’t look like there are many pieces left.” CJ said, eyeing the board as she added the newest piece. Donna took a deep breath and left CJ’s office, her agent following along behind. 

“Looks like we’ll get the face last.” CJ said, as she looked over at Josh, who had chosen not to go after Donna. He figured she could probably do with a few minutes by herself. 

“Figures.” Josh grumbled. Toby and Sam came in after they saw Donna leave. 

“I just heard about today’s gift.” Toby said. “And this time he had a message for her.” 

“Yeah.” CJ said. 

“Josh,” Sam began. “you love Donna, right?” 

“Yes.” He said slowly. 

“Do you love her enough to marry her?” Sam continued. 

“Yes.” He said again. 

“Maybe that would deter this guy, if Donna were already married.” Sam suggested. 

“He’s already gone after Josh once.” Toby said rejecting the idea immediately. “Donna would easily not be married anymore if he were dead.” 

“That’s a chilling thought.” CJ said. 

“Picked me right up there, Toby.” Josh quipped. 

“I just didn’t want that idea to be allowed to fester and take hold.” Toby explained. “I think that while I would be very happy for you under other circumstances, now is a very bad time to marry Donna.” 

“Yeah.” Josh agreed. Though he hadn’t even admitted to himself up until that point that he’d wanted to marry her, he was surprised at how easily he answered. 

“Is she going with the First Lady to California next week?” CJ asked Josh. Josh nodded. They were all heading back out to California for a campaign event the following week. “The puzzle might be finished by then.” 

“Fantastic.” Josh said sarcastically. “Any takers on if he’s going to sign his name on the last piece?” 

“No. But I think the last piece is going to be her face.” CJ said again looking back at the board. 

“Well, that’ll go over like a Mack truck.” Josh said, then turned and left the room. 

*********************** 

“Wanna hear something funny?” Donna asked Josh as they lay on her couch watching t.v. Donna’s roommate was out for the night, so they decided to stay at her place so she could check up on her mail and messages. 

“Sure.” He smiled. She was curled up against him with her back to the t.v. She seemed more interested in resting and being with him than anything on t.v., which Josh muted to give her his full attention. 

“Sam asked me if I wanted to marry him yesterday.” Donna smiled. 

“What?!” Josh exclaimed. 

“Yeah. He seemed to think that if he and I got married, this guy might lose interest. And if I married Sam, you wouldn’t be in any danger. Maybe it would throw him off the trail.” 

Josh sighed and ran a hand over his face. “He’s crazy.” 

“Well, he said that he would still let me see you though. Apparently, it’d be a marriage in name only.” 

“Well, that’s nice of him.” Josh smiled. He wasn’t so much amused by Sam’s grand gesture of friendship as he was that Donna was genuinely smiling at the moment. She hadn’t done too much of that since this whole thing started and he missed her smile. 

“I had an idea of my own though.” She confessed as the smile faded from her face. 

“What’s that?” 

“What if I snuck out in the middle of the night?” she suggested. “Maybe if I disappeared he’d lose interest.” 

“We have an FBI detail, baby.” Josh reminded her glumly. “He’s probably watching you. I’m sure he’d notice you sneaking out in the dead of night.” 

“Okay. Well, then maybe that would spurn him to do something, smoke him out of his hole.” 

“With you as bait? I don’t think so.” 

“Well, yeah, Josh.” Donna said. “I’m the only bait. I’m the only one he wants. I’m tired of waiting until this stupid puzzle is done. I have no control over this situation at all, and it’s affecting my whole life. We’re practically under house arrest. We can’t even feel safe in the White House, for crying out loud.” 

“Not at the expense of your safety, Donna.” 

“It’s going to end up like that anyway!” she cried sitting up. “He’s not just going to sign his name, I’m going to say no, and he’ll go on his merry little way. He’s already tried to hurt you. I’ve already been ordered to stop seeing you by him. He already sees me as his. If I do something like that, he’ll get desperate and come out of hiding.” 

“Baby,” Josh said sitting up and bringing his hands to her face. “I’m just as frustrated as you are. I’m just as desperate to end this as you are. Do you think I see what’s happening to you and I’m entertained by it? I want this sicko behind bars. I hate the fact that he’s in your vicinity day in and day out and we don’t know who the hell it is. I hate walking through the corridors and looking twice at every man that works in the building. I hate that you can’t sleep or eat. I’ve thought about forcing his hand, too, but now we know that he can be moved to violence. And if you do something he doesn’t like, that violence is going to be against you. I don’t want to wait either, Donna, but we have to. It’s the safest course of action.” 

Donna sighed and looked into his eyes. She could see the desperation and fear reflecting back out. As each day went on, she hated this mysterious person more and more. She found herself looking around at the men she worked with and wondering who wasn’t going to be her friend at the end of the week. CJ seemed to think there was only one more piece of the puzzle left, which would mean tomorrow, the mystery man might reveal himself. 

She leaned in and kissed him. He was immediately receptive to her, needing to feel control of something as much as she did. She climbed over into his lap and wrapped her legs behind him as he deepened the kiss. This stranger had tainted them long enough. She dropped her head back and he trailed kisses down her neck, then he pulled her shirt over her head and his immediately followed. He gently urged her onto her back and climbed on top of her. She divested him of his jeans next, and hers followed. He eased back from their kiss and in the most agonizingly slowest way possible, gently ran his hand up the side of her body, sending shivers racing through her. She reached behind him and gently trailed her fingers up and down his back, refusing to break his gaze. They knew every inch of each other, inside and out. 

A wave of possessiveness overcame him and he captured her mouth again in a demanding kiss. He needed to take her as much as she needed to be taken by him. 

“Wear your hair up tomorrow, baby.” He grinned wickedly against her ear as he planted a kiss just below it that would leave a mark. 

“Joshua, we work in the White House.” She said playfully. “They frown on things like that.” 

“Well, seeing as how I am the `they’ that you’re referring to, I’m giving you special dispensation.” 

She almost let out a gasp at the intensity of his gaze and saw he was serious. It was a way of fighting back, a way of rebelling against the unknown enemy, and the wicked little being in her deep down agreed with him just then. 

“Why don’t we just not go in tomorrow and have the switchboard send a message through the intercoms that we’re staying home to have sex all day.” She replied. 

“That’s not a bad idea either.” Josh said kissing his way from her collarbone to her breasts. 

“Two minutes ago, you were afraid of provoking him.” She reminded. 

“Yeah, but now I remember that you’ll be walking around the building accompanied by people with guns. And I suddenly feel the need to remind him that you’re mine.” 

She pulled him back up to look in his eyes again. “It’s you I love.” She said firmly. “Whatever this guy gives me or does next, doesn’t matter. I love *you.*” 

“I know.” 

“Yeah?” she said. 

“Yeah.” 

She held his gaze for a minute then gave him a slow, seductive smile. She ran her foot up the side of his leg then pushed his boxers off with her toes. 

“Feel free to show me how much though.” He smirked. 

TBC


	9. Puzzle, The

“Tell me something, baby.” Josh said the next morning as he watched Donna put on her jewelry. “How the hell do two chopsticks manage to hold up your hair?” She had done as he requested and twisted her hair up. She knew it was probably inviting trouble, but she was feeling as rebellious as Josh was. She wanted this guy to see that he couldn’t intimidate her. She was glad that Josh had come around to her thought process in this matter. Surprised, but glad nonetheless. 

“They’re not chopsticks, Josh.” She sighed She turned to look at him where he lounged fully dressed on the bed. “How do I look?” Not only was she wearing her hair up, but she was also wearing a white, light weight v-neck sweater. Josh bounded off the bed and pulled her into his arms from behind. 

“Like a woman that’s good and truly loved.” He whispered huskily against her ear. 

“Or good and truly something.” She murmured smiling against the light kisses he dropped along the exposed part of her neck. 

“It’s love, baby, trust me.” 

“We’re going to be late.” She groaned as his hand had now worked its way under her sweater to caress her stomach. 

“You’re probably going to have to redo your hair, too.” 

Josh and Donna showed up to the White House an hour later than normal, though just in time for Josh to make it to staff. They entered the crossover hall just as CJ, Sam, and Toby were on their way through to staff. Donna took his backpack for him to drop by his office before she headed over to the East Wing, and Josh walked along with the rest of the senior staff. 

“Are you sure that was wise, mi amore?” CJ asked as they entered Margaret’s area outside Leo’s office. 

“Well, she used to be my assistant, I’m sure she remembers where my office is to make sure my laptop makes it safely back.” Josh quipped misunderstanding CJ’s question. 

“Not that, idiot boy.” CJ replied resisting the urge for once to smack him in the head. “The new tattoo she’s got under her ear.” Josh smirked and looked down at the floor. If CJ didn’t know him better, she may have thought he was actually blushing. 

“What tattoo?” Sam asked. “I didn’t notice anything.” 

“Well, maybe it’s just my feminine radar then.” CJ said. “But it looked like there was a blatant hickey on her neck.” 

“Well, that’s sure to piss someone off, isn’t it?” Josh replied as CJ rolled her eyes. 

“What are you 16?” she demanded. 

“I’m sure that’ll get a reaction out of her friend.” Toby said quietly. 

“Maybe it’ll provoke a reaction from him that somebody notices.” Josh shrugged. 

“I wouldn’t have thought you’d leave her out there as bait.” CJ said. 

“Well, I made that same point to her last night.” Josh agreed. “But she astutely pointed out that there’s nothing else to set the trap with. She’s it. She’s all this guy wants. Now, he’s either going to get pissed at her and do something, or pissed at me and do something. Either way, maybe it’ll smoke him out.” 

“Or he’ll get pissed off, not send the last piece and he’ll find a new way to terrorize her.” Sam said speaking again. 

“This guy has come after me once already.” Josh reminded. “He’s looking to reveal himself to one of us. With any luck, he’ll come after me instead of her.” 

“Well, that’s the stupidest thing I’ve heard you say since your ridiculous secret plan to fight inflation.” CJ said forcefully. “You really are an idiot.” 

“The point is to protect Donna from harm.” Josh shot back. “I’ve got agents with me, I’m sure they can take this one guy if he tries something.” 

“I hope you’re right, mi amore.” CJ said. “You’ve already used up one of your lives; I don’t know how many you’ve got left.” 

***************** 

Donna entered CJ’s office that afternoon at her usual time of 3:05 with what they all assumed was going to be the last gift and puzzle piece. It had arrived in a gift bag. Donna and CJ stood nervously in the office waiting for Josh to come down. Donna chewed her lip and looked at the board. It was now obvious that it was a photo of a woman in a wedding dress with blonde hair. The answer to who it was in the picture stayed in the back of her mind, but now that the moment was here, it had begun pushing its way forward. 

Josh came into the office with his FBI agent, and Donna was surprised to see Mike with him, as well. 

“Mike! Hi!” she greeted nervously. 

“I came by to talk to you two, but Josh said the last gift came, so I want to see what that is first.” Mike replied by way of greeting to the room. 

“You don’t look like you’re about to give me good news.” Donna murmured. She reached into the bag and pulled out a small jewelry box. The puzzle piece was facing upside down, so she pulled it off and handed it to CJ without flipping it over. She wanted to postpone this moment as long as she could. She opened the jewelry box to reveal a very large, very beautiful diamond ring. She looked up at the board as CJ put the last puzzle piece in place, and as predicted, it revealed a completed black and white photograph of Donna in a wedding dress. 

Suddenly, it was all too much for Donna to take and she felt herself get lightheaded. Josh reached out and grabbed her before she hit the floor and he eased her onto CJ’s couch. CJ grabbed a bottle of water out of her mini fridge and popped the top off and put it on the small table next to the couch. Donna was already coming around, but Josh noted she was starting to shake. 

“You don’t look surprised.” She said softly to him. 

“Unfortunately, I’m not.” He confessed shaking his head. “I’ve been hoping that I was wrong.” 

“Well, that’s not a sentiment that I hear often from you.” She said with a slight smile to her lips. Josh smiled back and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. “Sit up. CJ’s got some water for you.” 

Donna sighed and sat up. Josh handed her the water bottle and she looked over at the board. “Turn that thing around or something.” She said with disgust, and CJ was happy to oblige. 

“It’s coming with me, Donna.” Mike informed. “All of it is. I’m going to see if I can get any information on that ring. If it was bought legitimately, it might have been insured.” A few agents that Donna hadn’t seen earlier began to unload the gifts and message board from CJ’s office. 

“You had something to talk to me about?” Donna sighed as she watched the large pile of gifts leave. She still couldn’t believe the amount of money and time that must have gone into this little project for this guy. 

“It seems your apartment was broken into this morning.” Mike began. “Your roommate came home and found it.” Donna gasped and Josh gently took her hand. 

“I guess we have a good idea of who it was then?” CJ asked. 

“Nothing appears to be stolen.” Mike continued. “In fact, the only thing that seems to have been disturbed is your bed.” Josh closed his eyes and dropped his head. 

“What did he do?” Donna asked darkly. 

“It looks like he took a knife to it.” Mike said. “It’s completely destroyed.” 

Josh and Donna glanced over at each other. This guy knew that Josh had stayed at Donna’s apartment and must have drawn his own conclusions when he saw the mark on Donna’s neck this morning. Donna stood up and looked over at CJ, then Josh. “Good.” She stated. “I hope he was mad. I hope he was completely enraged. I hope he’s seen that it’s something he’ll never have with me.” 

“You didn’t have an agent there?” Josh asked Mike. 

“We had a video surveillance on the entrances to the building.” Mike said. “We’re reviewing them now. Donna’s roommate said the window with the fire escape was still locked, so he probably got in through the door.” 

“So what happens now?” CJ asked mostly to the room at large. “The puzzle’s complete, his intentions are known.” 

“We wait until he makes a move.” Mike answered. “He’s going to try to make contact with her now.” 

“Oh great.” Donna deadpanned. “I was really looking forward to this part. After weeks of this crap, I get to constantly be on edge and have frayed nerves for an indeterminable amount of time. This’ll be fun.” 

“I don’t think we’ll have to wait that long.” Mike replied. 

“Am I going to be allowed back in my apartment?” Donna asked. “I’m leaving for California in a few days with the First Lady. I need to pack.” 

“Maybe you should wait and fly with us.” Josh suggested from his position still on the couch. “There will be more security with the President. It’ll be harder for him to try something.” 

“First of all, I want him to try something. I want this over with.” Donna said. “Second of all, I’m not going to let him terrorize me into not doing my job, or not being with you, or anything else. It’s my life; it’s not his to control.” 

“We’ll send extra agents with you, Donna.” Mike said. “After this, I’m sure the director will authorize it. After all, the President has pretty much been up his ass about this whole thing. He’ll probably do anything at this point to go a day without a phone call from Charlie.” 

“Whatever.” Donna said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to get this over with the fastest.” 

Mike looked over at Josh unsure, but Josh simply shrugged in reply. It was Donna’s life. Donna was the focus of this guy’s fetish. Josh absolutely did not relish the idea of trying to get something to happen to her faster. Quite frankly, he disagreed with her whole mentality, but drawing her into an argument about it wasn’t going to do any good. She didn’t need to be fighting with him on top of everything else that was going on. She needed him to be supportive and comforting to her. And she was right. They took control last night and forced a reaction out of the sender. While the First Lady traveled with a lot of security, she traveled with less than the President. He wanted nothing more than to lock her away surrounded by an army to protect her, but she wouldn’t be happy hidden away. 

One of the things he loved most about her was her spirit and this guy was breaking it little by little each day the past few weeks…until last night. She stopped being reactive last night and turned proactive. There really was no other choice than to let the events this sicko planned unfold and handle it accordingly. He prayed to every deity he could think of that she wasn’t hurt in the process. 

And that he’d get to see this guy face to face. 

TBC


	10. Puzzle, The

Josh packed his backpack for the third time that morning. His concentration was zero. The motorcade was leaving for Dover in about an hour to take them to California. They’d meet up with the First Lady there, who had been making special appearances around the state for a few days now. Josh hadn’t heard from Donna that morning and he was getting nervous. He knew that if something had happened, he’d know about it, but he still couldn’t shake the bad feeling he had. He had tried calling her cell that morning and kept getting her voice mail. Of course, she could have drained the battery on it. But that was incredibly unlikely. Donna is never without her cell. 

The final piece of the puzzle had come about a week ago and nothing had happened. Everything was eerily quiet. This mystery psycho hadn’t tried to contact Donna once, or tried anything aggressive with Josh. Donna was right; this was the worst part. All this waiting and nothing happening. 

Not that he wanted anything to happen. He didn’t. He clung to the foolish belief that this guy had gotten the message and moved on. That’s what his heart wanted to believe, but his mind knew better. His mind was waiting for the ball to drop. So he had been waiting as patiently as he could. 

Donna on the other hand wasn’t remotely patient. She startled at sudden noises and had to keep the lights on at night. Josh suspected if she actually slept, she’d have nightmares, but she wasn’t sleeping. The First Lady had promised to keep a close eye on her on the California trip and slip her another sleeping draught if she thought it necessary. Josh kept his opinion on that to himself. The thought of drugging her against her will didn’t sit well with him. He felt guilty enough about it the first time it happened and he didn’t even know about that until she had gotten back to DC and was already drugged. Donna was stronger than that. She could come out of it easily enough if she could just calm down. Maybe if she had something to calm her nerves, she’d relax enough to sleep. 

Josh sighed as he stared blankly at the contents of his backpack. He had absolutely no idea what he had just put in there. 

“Josh?” Toby said quietly from the door. 

“Hey.” Josh replied looking up. 

“Are you all right?” 

“I’m fine.” 

“Have you heard from Donna yet?” Toby asked. 

“No. I can’t get her on her cell.” 

“I’m sure she’s fine. You’d be the first one to find out if she wasn’t.” Toby watched as Josh sighed and sat down in his chair. He ran his hand over his face and blinked back his exhaustion. 

“Any leads?” 

“No.” 

“Any idea at all?” 

“No.” Josh said dejectedly. “You know, I rack my brain constantly trying to think of any instance before this all started that I would have thought was weird; anyone in her dating history that she had a bad experience with, anything at all that could be useful. I’ve thought about this so long, Toby, I’ve given myself headaches. Each thing I come up with just seems as ridiculous as the next. Mike even investigated her freeloading boyfriend from five years ago and even he checked out fine; though that guy gets more parking tickets than she does. This guy’s like smoke. How does he slip in completely undetected, wreak havoc and disappear? How does a guy like this even get through vetting to work here?” 

“One can only assume that his psychiatric background checked out when he was hired; it’s probably something that manifested itself afterwards.” 

“Well, that just added a whole new level of paranoia to just working here in general. Thanks a lot.” 

“Well, you’re not the only one with strange ideas.” Toby said. “I had Mike have Amy tailed for a while.” 

That certainly gave Josh pause. Amy? A woman? He’d never even considered that. 

“That’s…” Josh said. “Wow. Trust me, Amy’s into guys.” 

“I wasn’t thinking that she might be into Donna.” Toby groaned closing his eyes against the visual Josh just gave him, though when he opened his eyes, Josh seemed to be considering that thought more than disturbed by it. “I was thinking that she might be terrorizing Donna out of spite. When you two were together, it was pretty obvious that Amy was jealous of Donna.” 

“It was?” Josh asked surprised. 

“You were too ensorcelled to see that Amy was barely civil to Donna.” Toby explained. “And Donna certainly wasn’t fond of her either, just the mere mention of Amy’s name made Donna’s jaw tighten. Amy’s bitter over your break-up, and I imagine the reason behind it, you got together with Donna very soon after you two broke up, and she’s a spiteful shrew. I just thought it might be a possibility.” 

“Am I the *only* one that liked her at all?” Josh asked. 

“Pretty much.” 

“Okay.” Josh said shaking his head. “Be all that as it may, I don’t think Amy’s maniacal. Will she exact her revenge professionally over the welfare bill in the future if she ever gets the chance? I’m sure she will. But I don’t think she’d do something like this. I beat her at her own game, but I don’t think I was her one true love.” 

“Like I said, it was a crazy idea that didn’t turn anything up.” Toby said. “It was just a thought I had. I like Donna. I’m not too fond of you, but I like Donna. I don’t want to see anything bad happen to her.” 

“It’s an interesting angle.” Josh admitted. 

“Stop trying to picture them naked together now, Josh.” Toby said. “The only place that’s going to happen is in your twisted head.” 

“Actually, until you just said that, I *wasn’t* picturing them naked together, Toby.” Josh replied. 

“Hey guys.” Greeted a new voice from the doorway. Josh and Toby looked over to see Danny Cancannon standing there. 

“Danny, CJ’s going to kick your ass if she finds out you were all the way back here.” Josh warned. Josh liked Danny. He actually considered him one of his friends most of the time. But he was reluctant to be talking to anyone with press credentials at the moment. He knew that Katie was chronicling the whole thing, too. That a story was sitting in a computer somewhere ready to go to print if something bad happened, well, it made Josh painfully reminded that though the reporters in the building were friendly, they weren’t all his friends. 

“Not so much this time.” Danny replied. 

“What’s up?” Josh asked. He was suddenly glad that Toby was here, too. If Danny was looking for a comment on a story, Josh was a little too fried to think before he opened his mouth. Toby would make sure Josh didn’t say anything stupid. 

“I think you need to come see something, Josh.” Danny said. “Maybe you should, too, Toby.” 

“We’re all leaving for Dover soon.” Toby said. 

“We’re only going so far as the press room.” Danny replied. Intrigued, Josh stood up and followed Danny out of the office, with Toby behind him. 

“What’s going on?” Josh asked. 

“I think you should just see for yourself.” Danny replied. They walked through the corridors to the press room then walked to the rear of it to the press bullpen. Danny led them over to a cubicle where there was a desk, chair computer port, and several photographs. Josh had to do a double take at first, but damn if the woman in the pictures didn’t look almost exactly like Donna. 

“It’s Donna.” Toby said leaning down and picking up a picture. 

“Yup.” Danny said. “I don’t know when they got here, but I just noticed them this morning.” 

“That’s not Donna.” Josh said confidently examining a picture. “But she looks amazingly like her.” 

“It’s not Donna?” Danny asked surprised. “It looks just like her.” 

“Not *just*, but close.” Josh said. 

“He’s right.” Toby said. “She does look a little different. But it’s really quite a striking resemblance.” 

Josh suddenly had chills run up his back. “Who’s desk is this?” he asked as he dug his cell phone out of his pocket. 

“Guy’s with the Daily News.” Danny replied. “I don’t know him well. He’s with --” 

“The First Lady’s press detail.” Josh finished dialing his cell phone and putting it to his ear. Suddenly, he knew exactly who Danny was talking about. It was that kid that came to Donna’s room a couple of weeks ago. He was in California with her now, and Josh was 3,000 miles away in D.C. 

“Mike,” Josh said as the phone connected. “I think we know who it is.” 

“Josh, I was just about to call you.” Mike said extremely calmly. “He’s got her.” 

TBC


	11. Puzzle, The

Donna slowly awoke to the sensation of movement. She tried to focus her eyes, but everything was blurry and she had a splitting headache. 

“Josh?” she murmured. 

“It’s me, sweetheart. I’m here.” Said a calm voice somewhere around her. She turned her head to the side and squinted. She was moving. She was in a car. From the look of the landscape, they were driving through the desert. But none of this seemed right. Why did they leave the hotel? When did Josh even get there? She didn’t remember him getting there. 

She turned her head to the other side and tried to focus on the driver. It was a man, and he had the same color hair as Josh, but there was something different about him. Everything was blurry and the pounding in her head was increasing the more she tried to strain to see straight. 

“Just go back to sleep, Dana.” Said the man. “We won’t be there for a while yet.” It seemed like a good idea, so she allowed herself to drift back off. 

When she awoke later, her vision was clear, but her head still hurt. She was able to focus better, and think straighter, despite the pain in her head. She looked over to the driver’s seat and had to immediately swallow the urge to scream. It wasn’t Josh driving at all. It was what’s his name from the press. Suddenly, visions began to race through her mind. She remembered walking up the stairwell at the hotel then everything happened very quickly. Someone had jumped out at her and the agent walking with her. With a perfectly placed hit to the head, the attacker had sent the agent crashing down the stairs with a fire extinguisher. Donna saw a hand come over her face then everything went black. She never even had the chance to scream. 

“Where are you taking me?” she demanded. Her voice was hoarse and she didn’t sound near as forceful as she had hoped. 

“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. It’s my surprise.” Eric said. “Just sit back and enjoy the scenery.” 

“I don’t want to be surprised.” Donna replied. “People are going to be looking for me.” 

“Who, Dana?” he demanded. “Who the hell is going to be looking for you?” 

“How about my boyfriend?” Donna challenged. “How about the FBI? How about the President of the United States?” 

“How did a teacher end up working in the White House anyway?” Eric continued as if she hadn’t spoken. 

Teacher, thought Donna. What the hell is going on here? And why was he calling her Dana? 

“I noticed you’re not wearing your ring.” He went on. “I hope you didn’t lose it. It’s okay that you don’t have it right now because I have the ones we’ll need. But just make sure you get it back. And make sure you wear your hair down. I don’t want to see that offending mark. I mean, you really didn’t need to throw the guy in my face.” 

“You didn’t need to destroy my bed!” Donna countered against her better judgment. She knew she probably shouldn’t argue with this guy. After all, he held her safety and probably her life in his hands then. 

“Destroy your bed?!” he yelled. “Have I meant nothing to you at all? Four years of devotion and this is what I get? I thought you were dead, Dana! Don’t you get that? I thought I was never going to see you again. I finally get the White House job and there you are. But you’re prancing around with this guy and throwing him in my face!” 

Nothing was making any sense to Donna right now. Well, nothing had been making sense for weeks. But who was Dana? It was starting to become apparent to her that he thought she was someone else. The question was, why wasn’t he with this Dana person anymore? Did something bad happen to her? Did she betray him? It would help to know that, so she knew if she could expect him to try to get some kind of revenge on her. He said he thought she was dead, so he assumed he lost this Dana person. Maybe if she played along, she could keep herself safe and convince him to let her go. 

“I wasn’t throwing him in your face.” She hedged. “I didn’t think you were interested anymore.” 

“Why in the world would you think that?” he demanded, though he seemed to be calming down some. “You know how much I love you. How could you think I wouldn’t want you anymore?” 

“Well, I’ve been down in DC for a while now.” Donna continued. “You never tried to see me before.” 

“I told you, I thought you were dead!” 

“I understand that.” Donna said quickly. “I’m sorry you thought that.” 

“You know what? Fine. Let’s just forget about it.” He spat. “I’ll forgive you, and you forgive me.” 

“Okay. I don’t want to make you mad.” 

“I just want to get there.” 

“Get where?” Donna asked. 

“I told you, sweetheart. It’s a surprise.” Donna cringed at the term of endearment. Josh called her Baby and it always sounded so natural, and just rolled right off his tongue. This sounded almost insulting. 

“You know how I hate surprises.” 

“You love surprises.” 

“Not so much anymore.” Donna tried. “Besides, you finally finding me is a big enough surprise for one day, don’t you think?” he seemed to consider that for a minute. 

“Okay. But I’m only telling you because I think you’ve had a rough day.” 

Yeah, no kidding, Donna thought. “Rough day” wasn’t really covering it there. 

“Vegas. So we can finally be married.” 

******************** 

Josh paced the cabin of Air Force One like a caged animal. They had just taken off and he had six whole hours of doing absolutely nothing but going out of his mind. Mike was trying to fill them in on what happened in California and what he had found out about Donna’s stalker. 

“So this guy killed her agent?” the President asked. 

“Yes, sir.” Mike said. “I’m not sure he actually intended to kill him or if he just wanted to render him unconscious so he could get away with her. But, it was blunt force trauma to the skull and it sent him down a flight of stairs. The footage from the hotel security cameras shows him carrying her out a side door and she’s pretty limp, so we think he may have drugged her.” 

“Or he could have smashed her in the head too!” Josh said forcefully. He stopped pacing and glared at Mike. Mike wasn’t affected by Josh’s current tone. He’d known Josh for many years and knew what he was like when he was mad, frustrated, and absolutely powerless. 

“Given what we’ve learned of him, Josh,” Mike replied calmly. “I doubt very much that he wants to hurt her.” 

“What have you learned about him?” the President asked Mike. 

“Well, he’s worked for the Daily News in New York as a political reporter for nearly seven years now.” Mike began. “The Daily News is pretty mortified at the moment that this is happening.” 

“Nobody gives a shit about the level of mortification the Daily News is feeling right now, Mike” Josh said evenly as he stopped pacing for a moment. 

“Josh,” the President interjected. “you can stay in here and be nice to Agent Casper and listen to everything he has to say, or I can have a few very large marines come in here and hold you down while the flight surgeon sedates you. The choice is yours.” 

Josh didn’t answer verbally, but he looked properly chastised and resumed his pacing. At this point, the President was reasonably sure that Josh would pace the entire six hour flight. 

“Anyway,” Mike continued with a glace over to Josh. “he’s a pretty respected reporter there. He had been ripe to take over the correspondent’s position at the White House for a while. He was engaged to a woman who’s name was Dana Reilly.” 

“WAS Dana Reilly?” Josh asked. “What happened?” Please don’t say he’s suspected of killing her, Josh pleaded inwardly. 

“She was killed in a car accident a week before they were supposed to get married, it was about a year ago. She was an elementary school teacher.” Mike responded. 

“Oh dear.” The President said. He was beginning to see where this was headed. 

“So, this guy, who’s full name is Eric Wilson, still gets his transfer eventually to the White House. Everybody was pretty happy for him. Apparently, he took Dana’s death pretty hard. They thought the change of city would do him good. They said he took a couple of months off work and he was seeing a therapist for a while.” 

“And so now we think he came to the White House, saw Donna, and a screw fell out?” The President finished putting his glasses on and taking a look at one of the pictures of Dana Reilly. He really had to study it closely to see that it wasn’t Donna. 

“That seems to be the popular opinion.” Mike confirmed. “He’s got no history that we can find of any past psychiatric counseling, apart from this grief counseling he had last year.” 

“So, these are actions of a broken heart?” the President mused. Mike and the President glanced over at Josh where he was still pacing. Neither saying a word, but both were wondering the same thing. What would happen to Josh if they landed to California and he had to endure a broken heart? 

For Josh’s part he felt like he was going to jump out of his skin. For a high tech plane, it sure was moving slow. He glanced at his watch. Only an hour had gone by since they took off. By the time they would make it to California, this guy would have almost a seven hour lead on them. He could be anywhere on the west coast. He could be in Mexico for the love of God, or driving straight back to DC. He leaned up against the wall of the cabin and pressed his palms to his eyes. 

“Josh,” the President said. “no kidding, do you want a sedative? We have five hours left until we get there. Five hours of this is going to make you exhausted, and you’ll be no good to her when we land.” 

“No thank you, sir.” Josh said quietly. 

“How about a glass of scotch to calm your nerves?” the President tried. 

Josh allowed himself a small smile as he looked over at the leader of the free world. “I think I’ll refrain from accepting beverages after I’ve just turned down a sedative.” 

The President looked shocked but not at all innocent. “Are you suggesting I’m as conniving as my wife?” Josh could tell that he wasn’t really offended. 

“No, sir.” Josh said still maintaining the small grin. “I’d just rather have my wits about me when we land.” 

“Very well.” The President replied. “But if you’re still like this in an hour, I will call in those marines.” 

“Fair enough.” Josh took in a long breath and then turned to Mike. “Mike, are you sure, I mean as sure as you can be that he intends her no harm?” 

“I’m reasonably sure.” Mike shrugged. “People are hard to predict, Josh, especially when they’re not thinking reasonably. Everything he’s done so far points to that he wants to marry her, not hurt her. My guess is that he’s on his way to Vegas now. I’ve got agents there already. If I’m right, it’ll take him a few hours to get there.” 

“Vegas?” Josh repeated. “He can’t possibly think Donna’s going to marry him.” 

“No.” Mike replied. “He thinks Dana is going to marry him. Josh, the last thing I want to do is completely freak you out, but you need to start dealing with the idea that if he did drug her to get her out of the hotel, he’ll probably drug her again in Vegas. The official will probably just think she’s drunk, which happens every day there and marry them.” 

“What are you saying, Mike?” Josh asked softly. 

“That if he successfully marries her, or in his head, Dana, the first thing he’s going to want to do is find himself a hotel room and make it official.” 

TBC


	12. Puzzle, The

Josh lapped the plane so many times, the rest of the staff was sure he was wearing a path in the carpeting. 

“Josh,” CJ said gently. “you need to calm down.” 

“This is me calming down.” He snapped as he stopped lapping the plane and paced in the corridor as CJ and Sam sat on a couch and Toby leaned against the wall and watched. “You want to see what happens when I stand still with all this energy?” 

“It’s just she’s going to need you when they find her and you’re going to be exhausted.” Sam jumped in. 

Josh stopped his pacing and turned around to look at his three friends. “You know, when Donna and I got together, none of you were surprised. You all said you knew it was going to happen one day, you’ve been watching us for years. In all that watching, did anybody actually learn anything at all about us? She sat in a hospital awake through 14 hours of surgery and then another four hours after I came out. She didn’t get sedated, she didn’t get drunk, she didn’t take a nap. She stayed awake and waited. She waited for me to need her. And I woke up, and I needed her, and she was right there. This is what we do. This is us. I know you think I’m nuts and losing it right now. But what if she gets away from this guy and tries to call me and I’m knocked out? She wouldn’t call the police first, she’d call me. And at that moment, I promise you, she’s not going to take solace in the fact that I’m getting some rest, she’s going to know that I wasn’t there when she needed me!” 

Toby, CJ and Sam watched Josh in silence as he began to pace again. He was frustrated, and he knew he shouldn’t take it out on them, but he was right. They were Donna’s friends, too, and they were worried about her, but they had absolutely no idea of the anguish Josh was feeling at the moment, and every moment since he got off the phone with Mike that morning. The person they loved with every fiber of their being was not currently at the hands of a mentally unstable man who was convinced that she was the love of his life incarnate. And since Mike stuck *that* idea in his head, Josh had been even more on edge. The thought that this guy would drug his Donna and then put his hands on her…Josh had already been sick once over this thought and he felt the bile rising in his throat. Forcing it down again and the thought to the back of his mind, he stopped and leaned up against the wall. 

Josh didn’t know what he hoped for more. He didn’t know if he hoped that this guy kept her drugged so she wouldn’t know all the horrible things that could be happening to her and maybe wouldn’t remember the whole ordeal later, or if she wasn’t drugged so she was able to fight. But if she wasn’t drugged, she’d be terrified out of her mind. Which was better; the knowing or the not knowing? 

Part of him was enraged that this guy would dare do this to Donna or any woman for that matter; and the other part now knew that this guy was out of his mind from a broken heart. He had thought he found his soul mate and she was taken away from him. Josh found himself wondering, and not for the first time since he learned of this guy’s past, whether or not this could just as easily be him. If he lost her, could he lose it like this? He tended to think so. It had already surfaced in him once that bad memories could take him over and Donna was the one to see it and reel him in. If she wasn’t there, who else knew him so well to help him again before he went over the edge? This guy had therapy and he still flipped. Donna said he was the strongest person she knew, but he didn’t think he was strong enough to withstand that. How do you go on when half of you dies? 

The pilot signed on and signaled that they were starting their decent. Josh sat down on the couch in between Sam and CJ with a sigh. 

“And it only took five and a half hours.” Toby announced. “The President actually thought you’d give us a hard time.” Josh smiled and dropped his head back on the couch. 

“I wish I could say something to make you feel better, mi amore.” CJ said. “But nothing seems appropriate.” 

“I’ll be comforted just by knowing that Toby isn’t writing something in his head right now.” Josh said looking over to Toby. 

“If I never have to write something about this, Josh, I’ll be happy.” Toby replied. 

Josh was about to call him on his non-answer when he saw Mike walking swiftly toward him. Josh stood up and walked the few steps left to meet him. 

“What?” 

“We found them.” Mike said. “They were spotted leaving a chapel on the main strip and they’re headed out of the city. There’s agents tailing them now and a helicopter in the area.” 

Josh’s heart rate increased. “Why don’t they pull him over?” 

“They don’t want him to freak out and do something stupid.” 

“So we’re heading to Vegas?” Josh asked. 

“Josh, the President of the United States is on this plane.” CJ reminded. “We’re landing in California, not hijacking it to Las Vegas.” 

“I can’t be in California! She’s in Nevada!” Josh threw up his hands and started pacing again. 

“We’ll take a helicopter from California.” Mike assured. “It won’t take us long to get there.” 

“Mike,” Sam said cautiously as he watched Josh turn towards the wall and start thudding his head against it, albeit gently. “you said *leaving* a chapel on the strip.” 

“Yes.” 

“Do we know what happened inside?” Sam hedged. Josh stopped his head thudding and turned silently to Mike. 

“As I predicted, a wedding ceremony was performed between Eric Wilson and Dana Reilly.” Mike explained. 

“This is crazy!” Josh shouted slamming his hand into the wall. 

“Josh,” Toby said in his normal even tone “if you break Air Force One that will be expensive.” 

“CJ broke the White House.” Josh countered with a grumbled, then started rubbing his sore hand. 

A flight steward came by and told them all to be seated for the final descent. Josh sat down with a huff next to Mike. 

“Josh, they’re being trailed by about six agents.” Mike said. 

“Like the FBI’s never screwed anything up before.” Josh said. 

“You do know that by you working in the White House, there’s finally someone over there I can punch in the face when you guys piss me off?” Mike countered and Josh smirked in response. “There’s as helicopter waiting for me at the base we’re landing at. It’ll take you and me to meet up with the outfit in Nevada, where you will stay the hell out of the way and do as you’re told or I’ll handcuff you inside the helicopter. And trust me, it will give me great joy to do that to you, so I’ll be looking for reasons, and my patience for bullshit will be thin.” 

“Yes, mom.” Josh agreed with a smile. 

“Snark me all you want, Josh, but listen to what I say.” Mike replied. 

TBC


	13. Puzzle, The

Donna awoke to the same pounding headache she’d had earlier. The last thing she remembered clearly, they were in a car. Now she was in a bed. She tried to roll over, but she couldn’t move. She felt pressure on her wrists and her head snapped back to see that she was tied to the bed. The binds weren’t tight, but they were certainly serving their purpose. She tugged on her wrists a few times, but she was unable to free herself. She heard movement in the bathroom off to the side, and she knew that Eric was in there. When she turned her head back from the bathroom, she caught a glimpse of what she was wearing and looked down with horror. 

It was a long, white satin nightgown. He must have changed her clothes. She squinted her eyes against the thought that he had seen her body, but she was pretty sure she hadn’t been violated in any way. 

“Oh good, you’re up.” Eric said poking his head out of the bathroom door. Donna could see that he was shirtless. It looked like he was shaving. “I’ll be coming to bed in a little bit. Geez, Dana, I thought you were going to sleep all night.” 

He disappeared back into the bathroom and Donna quelled the urge to scream. She couldn’t, however, stop the tears from pouring down her cheeks. She couldn’t bear the thought of him touching her. It was obvious what his intent was. How could she keep him away from her? Could she make up some mundane excuse to put him off? If she told him she had a headache, which she did, would he leave her alone or would he get mad? What kind of relationship did he have with this Dana woman? Was it one where he would have respected her wishes like she had with Josh? 

Josh. She couldn’t think of him now. If she wasn’t able to ward off this guy’s advances, the last thing she was going to do was think of Josh. She didn’t want to ever associate being with him to something like that. Suddenly, she was desperate to think of a way to stop this. She’d never be able to fight him with her hands tied, and she doubted he planned on freeing her. Just when she thought all hope was lost, there was two very loud noises at the door of the hotel room. It sounded like gunshots. As the door flung open, Donna realized that the locks to the door had been shot off. Dear God, what the hell was happening now? 

“FBI!” shouted a voice as several men in FBI windbreakers barged into the room with their guns drawn. 

“What the hell is --” Eric began emerging from the bathroom. The agents immediately descended on him and he struggled to get free. “No! No, she’s my wife!” he shouted. It took four agents to keep him subdued he was struggling so much. “Dana! Tell them you’re my wife! Tell them!” 

“It’s okay, Donna.” Said a soft familiar voice at her ear. Donna turned her head to see Mike Casper cutting her loose from the bed. As soon as she was free, she scurried off the bed, but she got up too fast and became lightheaded. Mike caught her as she fell and lifted her up. “It’s all right. We’re getting you out of here. Josh is waiting for you.” 

And Mike just said the magic words. “He’s here? Josh is here?” 

“Yes.” Mike laughed. “He’s waiting very impatiently outside.” He carried her out to the motel parking lot where there were several police cars and an ambulance parked. Donna saw Josh pacing frantically behind the ambulance and the tears started again. When he saw her, he froze for a second and then ran over. Mike let her down and she fell into Josh’s arms. Whatever Eric had given her was making her feel pretty weak, and Josh could see he was literally holding her up. But she clung to him and he to her. His eyes grew wide when he saw what she was wearing. 

“Are you all right?” He demanded as Mike came up and put a blanket from the ambulance around her shoulders. 

“I think so.” She nodded crying and still clinging to him. 

“Are you sure?” 

“Not completely.” She said apprehensively. “I was unconscious for a bit. I woke up and I was wearing this.” Josh hugged her tight to him again. His eyes fell over to the motel room door where the agents were struggling to put Eric in the back of a car. He was cuffed and screaming for her. The sound of his voice was pure anguish and Josh turned them away. 

“We should take her to a hospital.” Mike said. 

“No!” Donna said emphatically. “She wanted to get the hell out of Nevada. She didn’t want an emergency room. She didn’t want it for her; and she didn’t want it for Josh. 

“Donna, you should get checked out.” Josh agreed. 

“My boss is a doctor.” Donna reminded. “Josh, you know damn well, I’ll get checked out in an ER, and Dr. Bartlet will insist on doing the whole thing again as soon I see her. Please, please, let’s just get back to California. I’ll do whatever Dr. Bartlet tells me to.” 

“Okay.” He agreed against his better judgment. She sagged against him and he kissed her forehead and held her tight again. After a few grateful moments of just having back in his arms again, he and Mike guided her across the parking lot to where the helicopter waited for them.   
******************** 

Josh paced the corridor outside the medical cabin on Air Force One. When they landed on the base back in California, the First Lady was there waiting and they ushered Donna back onto Air Force One, so Dr. Bartlet would have the full disposal of the sick bay there and they didn’t have to deal with press at a hospital. Or hopefully, they wouldn’t at any rate. 

The door to the cabin opened and Josh was to the door in one giant step. Dr. Bartlet met him in the doorway. 

“She’s fine.” Dr. Bartlet ensued. Abbey would describe this next moment to Jed later as Josh completely deflating. All the tension and worry he had pent up inside him since that morning, well, the last few weeks really, rushed out of him. His shoulders slumped, he dropped his head, and he let out a long breath. 

“You’re sure?” he asked. 

“I’m sure.” She smiled. “She’s completely fine. Take to one of the guest cabins. The rest of the gang will be here in a few hours. We might as well wait for them here. Of course, I’ll be crushed to have missed the event, but it’s a doctor’s duty after all.” Josh smiled at her drama and watched her walk away for a second before pushing into the sick bay. Donna was just pulling a blue Air Force One sweatshirt over her head to match the blue sweatpants the First Lady had dug up for her from the flight crew. She smiled as she watched him cross over to her. She sighed and leaned forward against his chest. It felt good to be back with him; it felt cleansing. 

“Dr. Bartlet says you’re okay.” He said softly against her hair. 

“Yeah.” She said. “I think I’m married though.” Though he couldn’t see her face, he could tell she was smiling. 

“If you wanted to get married, baby, you could have just said something.” He replied smiling. She pulled back and looked at him. She had thought she heard a smile to her voice, but now he looked more serious. “Before Sam asked you to marry him, he asked me if I loved you enough to marry you.” 

“And you said no and that’s why he thought he’d asked?” 

“I said yes, and Toby put the kaputz on it.” 

“Oh sure, bring the Yiddish now when I’m in my weakened state.” 

“He was afraid that the guy would kill me anyway to make you unmarried.” 

“Oh.” Donna said. “Well, that’s a downer then.” 

“Being married to me?” 

“You buying the farm and leaving me a widow.” 

“But not be married to me?” 

She paused for a second as if to consider his comment. “No. I can’t think of too many drawbacks to that.” 

“You’ve been getting a lot of marriage proposals lately, Donnatella.” 

“Is this one of them? I’m a little confused.” 

“Not yet.” He said and smiled when she huffed. “I want more romance involved.” 

“If you send me a puzzle, I’ll kick your ass.” 

“No puzzles.” Josh promised. “No roses, no trinkets from Tiffany’s, no chocolates, no candles, no poetry.” 

“What kind of half-assed marriage proposal is this going to be?” she demanded. “Nothing from Tiffany’s? Just because I rejected the last gift given to me from Tiffany’s doesn’t mean I’d reject everything in the store. I’m a woman with needs here.” 

“Well, it just means that I’ll have to put extra special thought into it.” 

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down a bit to meet her. “I’m sure I’ll love whatever you come up with.” She whispered before kissing him. It didn’t take long for the kiss to deepen. She felt him brush the hair back from her neck and kiss the length of it. 

“Josh?” 

“Mmm?” 

“Josh?” 

“Can’t talk right now, baby.” He murmured, “making up for lost time here.” 

“Actually, no.” 

“What?” 

“We are not joining the mile high club on Air Force One.” 

He drew back and gaped at her. She was serious. 

“Baby, they gave us our own private cabin, something they’ve never done before and probably won’t do again.” Josh reminded. “OF COURSE we’re joining the mile high club on Air Force One. It’s like they expect us to! You don’t want to let them down.” 

“Aren’t there security cameras in these cabins? I don’t want to give them a show either.” 

“Who cares? They’re discreet. Like the President and First Lady never gave them a show?” 

“Okay, well now I’m stuck with that in my head.” 

“Doonnnaaa!” he whined dropping down on the exam table next to her. 

“Weren’t you supposed to be taking me to lay down?” she demanded. 

“Yes, that was the plan.” He moped. 

“Josh, doing it on Air Force One just freaks me out. It’d be like doing it in the White House.” 

“Baby, I’ve never had sex in the White House, and from the sounds of that comment, it looks like I’ll never have sex in the White House. But I’m willing to bet there’s probably not much like the thrill of having sex in the White House.” 

Donna slid off the table and looked expectantly back at him. With a groan he stood up to join her. Taking her hand, they walked slowly out of the sick bay and into the main corridors of the plane. It was strange to be on Air Force One when no one else was. There was still a crew on board, but they could see out the window that most of the flight crew was now standing guard in a circle around the plane. Here they were on a military base, and the plane was still guarded by nearly 50 heavily armed soldiers, on American soil, on a military base. It was a pretty humbling sight. They came upon the cabin the First Lady said they were authorized to use. Once they were at the door Donna walked in ahead of Josh, but he waited for the approaching flight steward he saw coming. 

“Excuse me.” He said stopping the young airman. “Do these rooms have security cameras?” 

“No, sir.” 

“They don’t?” Josh confirmed. 

“No, sir. Only the luggage hold, conference rooms and Presidential suite.” The airman explained. “We’ve been briefed on Ms. Moss’s ordeal by the First Lady. Is she nervous? The plane’s well guarded --” 

“No, no.” Josh hastened. “She’s…uh…I was just wondering.” 

“Is there anything else, sir?” 

“No. Thanks.” Josh watched as the airman walked down the corridor. Grinning from ear to ear, and knowing that it would be a few hours yet before the rest of the staff returned to with the President, he walked into the private cabin and closed the door. 

TBC


	14. Puzzle, The

Josh paced in the snow out front of Donna’s building, well, what used to be Donna’s building. He smiled as he thought that at that moment, Donna was inside giving her roommate her keys and signing off on the lease. She had moved into Josh’s apartment the week before. How the hell long did it take to hand somebody a key? For crying out loud, it was Washington D.C. in January, and freezing. Of course, Josh could have just waited in the car, but he had a lot of nervous energy about tonight and he was fidgeting too much in the back of the limo. It was Inauguration night, they had eight balls to go to, and she was probably inside crying her eyes out with her roommate and giving each other empty promises to keep in touch. 

Donna had been remarkably well adjusted since her ordeal in Nevada. She had a few nightmares every now and then, but she had talked to a counselor upon their return to Washington and she seemed okay. Now that she had the freedom at work to focus on her job again, she was really enjoying her work over in the First Lady’s office and excited about the new term. 

“This is ridiculous.” Josh mumbled. 

“What’s that, sir?” the driver asked from the comfort of the car. 

“Nothing. I’m just wondering what the hell could possibly be taking so long.” He pulled out his phone and dialed her cell then sighed in frustration as he heard the back seat of the car ring. “For crying out loud.” He grumbled walking up to the building. We he got to the top of the stairs, he noticed the sign that said the buzzer wasn’t working. Rolling his eyes, he walked back down to the car. 

“The buzzer’s not working.” He told the driver. 

“Did you try it?” 

“No. I divined it.” Josh replied. “There’s a sign that says the buzzer’s not working.” 

“Looks like you’ll just have to be patient.” The driver said. 

“A virtue at which I do not excel.” He replied. He started jumping in place to warm up. 

“Why don’t you wait in the car?” the driver suggested. 

“Can’t.” Josh refused. “Too much adrenaline.” He turned back to the building. Still no sign of Donna. 

Screw it. 

“DONNA!” he yelled at her former apartment window. 

“Well, this will be interesting.” The driver noted. 

When his bellow didn’t yield a response, he picked up some snow and molded it into a snowball, then tossed it at the window and missed. 

“I take it you were never a pitcher.” The driver said getting out of the car and bending over to grab some snow. 

“You’re going to help me?” Josh asked picking up more snow. 

“It’s more productive than waiting in the car.” 

“What do you care? You get paid by the hour.” 

“This is true.” 

Several failed attempts later, they managed to start hitting the window. A very surprised and mildly annoyed Donna opened the window just in time to let a snowball go sailing through the window. 

“What the hell are you doing?” she demanded incredulously. 

“Get down here!” 

“Keep your voice down.” She ordered. 

“DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT TELLING ME WHERE TO KEEP MY VOICE! GET DOWN HERE NOW!” 

“I’m coming!” 

A minute later she appeared at the door and walked down the front stairs in a huff, shivering without a coat. 

“You came out here without your coat?” Josh asked taking off his heavy wool coat and draping it over her shoulders. 

“It’s in the car.” She answered. “I was only running in.” 

“For 20 minutes?” 

“Well, I didn’t know you were out here wetting your pants.” She replied. 

“I’m an impatient man.” 

“No. You?” He smirked and offered her his arm to lead back to the car. 

“What was with the snowballs?” she asked as the driver opened the door for them. 

“Your cell’s in the car.” 

“I can’t believe you rented a limo for the night.” She smiled settling into the back seat again. Josh picked up the glasses of champagne they had started and handed hers back to her. 

“I promised you romance.” 

“You did?” He smiled as he realized that the hidden meaning behind those words seemed to pass over her head. Evidently, she didn’t remember their conversation on Air Force One. He wasn’t surprised. She had been dealing with the effects of whatever Eric had given her and she actually didn’t remember most of that night. 

“He’s going to take us to dinner then we’ll meet up with everyone and join the motorcade.” Josh explained. “He’ll pick us up from the last ball to take us home.” 

Donna smiled at those last words. She liked that home meant their home. She liked the direction they were headed. She missed how well they worked together, but she loved that she was lucky enough to know him like this. She preferred the romantic, attentive, loving Josh to the whirlwind of hyper-active, high maintenance Josh he turned into when they walked into the White House. 

“Where are we going to dinner?” she asked anxiously as she wiggled out of his coat. 

“I told you, it’s a surprise.” 

“The whole evening’s a surprise.” She pouted playfully falling back against the seat. “You’re not going to tell me anything at all?” 

“Okay.” He acquiesced after a moment’s thought. She smiled and turned to him. 

“We’re going to eight balls.” He began. “There will be dancing, drinking, you’ll probably get to dance with the President of the United States tonight…” 

She smacked him in the arm and fell back against the seat again. The car stopped and the driver came around to open the door for them. Josh got out first and turned to help her. She stepped onto the sidewalk and grinned brightly when she looked up at the sign for the restaurant they were at. Heralded as the most romantic restaurant in Georgetown, 1789 was exclusive, and very difficult to get reservations for. 

“Are we eating here or at the Starbucks across the street?” she quipped. 

“Not impressed?” he asked as he opened the door for her and led her inside. 

“It’s next to impossible to get reservations here.” 

“Not for the Deputy Chief of Staff on Inauguration night, it’s not.” Josh informed. 

“You had the President call, didn’t you?” she laughed. 

“No.” Josh retorted pretending to be offended, but it didn’t last when he sheepishly confessed, “Margaret did.” 

She smiled again as the Maitre D showed them to a cozy table by the fireplace in the John Carroll room. Josh was stopped several times by various Senators and Congressmen as they made their way through the room. Donna smiled as she took in the atmosphere around her. The room was decorated in Currier and Ives prints from George Washington’s days as president, antique furniture and decorations, and old maps of the City, which she was sure the President would flip over seeing. They ordered a bottle of wine and Donna smiled again, as Josh reached over and pulled her in her chair around closer to him. 

“So,” she said leaning in closer to him. “What are Leo’s dinner recommendations?” 

“What makes you think he’s got dinner recommendations?” Josh countered. 

“Because he’s eaten at every high brow restaurant in this city and he’s got recommendations for everywhere.” 

“The steak tartar for the first course; the roasted venison for the dinner course; and the warm apple crostada for dessert.” Josh sighed knowing he was beat. 

“Mmm…” Donna moaned opening her menu. “Though the only thing you’re getting off that list is the apple crostada.” 

Josh rolled his eyes as he glanced at the menu. “All right. What are MY choices then?” 

“The roasted monkfish, the roasted organic chicken, the grilled wild salmon or the crispy sea bass.” She read off the menu. 

“Grilled salmon it is then.” He replied. 

“Then I’ll let you have the steak tartar.” 

“I don’t think it’s actually red meat though.” Josh frowned reading over the description. 

“Sure you don’t want the roasted chicken?” Donna asked. “It’s got Bartlett pears in it.” 

“There’s a pear named after the President?” 

“I don’t think so.” 

************************ 

It took them a half an hour after Josh paid for dinner to get from their table to the front door. Josh was once again stopped numerous times on his way through the dining room. Once they were back in the car, Donna snuggled up next to him and put her chin on his shoulder. “We’re going to be incredibly late. You’re actually supposed to be doing things tonight.” 

“Did I or did I not network back there?” Josh countered. 

“True.” 

“I was very nice to everyone in there.” 

“Yes, you were.” 

“Now, I’m going to be very nice to you.” He said turning his head to kiss her. 

“Mmm…yes, that’s very nice.” She sighed. 

Josh glanced at the window and saw that they were pulling up to the Convention Center. Five of the evening’s balls alone were here. Josh gave a silent thank you to whoever organizes all these balls for putting so many in one building. It made it much easier to move through them at their own pace than constantly getting in and out of the motorcade, which he saw was just arriving ahead of them. 

“Just a minute.” He said to the driver with a brief tap on the separating glass. 

“Where are we?” Donna asked. 

“The Convention Center.” 

“Oh, thank God. We’ll be here for a few hours then.” 

“Yeah.” Josh said. “Listen, baby, I want to talk to you first before we go in.” 

“This doesn’t sound good.” Donna replied. 

“It doesn’t?” Josh asked surprised. “Okay. I screwed it up already.” 

“Screwed what up?” Donna asked. He paused for a minute and suddenly, something he said earlier fell into place. He said that he had promised her romance. She didn’t think anything of it at the time, but now it was making sense. The private car, dinner at one of the most romantic restaurants in the city, champagne in the limo. “You didn’t screw anything up.” She assured with a smile. 

“I didn’t?” he asked hopefully. 

“You could never screw this up.” 

“I can’t?” she shook her head in response to his question. “How do you know what I’m afraid I’m screwing up?” 

“Because you said you promised me romance.” 

“You remember!” he accused pointing his finger at her. 

“Yes.” She confessed. “I didn’t before, but now I do.” 

“Well then,” he smiled. “I guess I’ll get right to it.” She smiled brightly as he pulled the small jewelry box out of his pocket. “Now, no snarking because it’s from Tiffany’s, and I didn’t get it there to be a smart ass, but I had been hunting around for the perfect ring, and it ended up being there.” He flipped open the box and Donna gasped and put a hand over her heart when she saw it. It was a round brilliant diamond in the center with diamond ribbons framing it. Small diamonds were encased in the silver band. She had to admit to herself that when she envisioned the day that she would get an engagement ring, it was always gold, but as she sat here now and gazed on the beautiful silver ring, it simply took her breath away. 

“Oh, Josh,” she whispered, “It’s amazing.” 

“The diamond consultant in the store described it as `delicate but graceful,’ and I just thought, that’s my Donna.” Pretty much every time that he let his guard down and spoke to her right from his heart made her tear up and this was no exception. “I know I’m not the most romantic guy on the planet, and I know that I don’t shower you with gifts, and I know that I’m a handful on my best days, and I’m *always* putting my foot in my mouth, but for reasons that will forever elude my understanding you love me anyway. And I got a glimpse of what it would be like to not have you in my life, and well, I didn’t like that.” He paused for a minute and took a breath. “I should have had Sam write this.” 

“Josh.” Donna said softly. He looked up at her and she smiled. “Of course I’ll marry you.” 

He smiled and she leaned in and kissed him. No. He may not have been the most romantic guy or most eloquent, but he was always the most honest and sweet. He never tried to use poetic phrases to describe his feelings, he always just shot right from the hip, and that’s one of the many reasons Donna loved him. 

A pounding on the window broke them apart. 

“Think you two might join us at some point this evening?” Toby demanded from the outside of the car. Donna rolled down her window and looked out to see Toby, CJ, and Will Bailey all staring expectantly at them. “Did you two forget that there’s an inauguration to celebrate?” 

“Don’t mind Toby.” CJ said rolling her eyes. “He’s had a few too many bourbons tonight.” 

“Did you not hear that speech today?” Toby demanded to her. “I was eloquent, dammit!” 

“We’ll be with you in a minute,” Donna promised, “just as soon as we’re done getting engaged.” 

“Well, hurry up!” Toby said. 

“ENGAGED!?” CJ shrieked. 

Donna turned back to Josh and he slipped the ring on her finger. She brought her hands to his face and kissed him. 

“About done then?” Toby barked again. 

“We’ll have the tender moment later then.” Josh whispered. 

“We’ll have a few of them.” She corrected. 

CJ yanked open the door and pulled Donna out of the car to check out the ring. 

“Oooh, mi amore.” She cooed breathlessly. “That’s beautiful!” 

“Yes, yes, well done, Josh.” Toby said impatiently. “Congratulations and other nice things. Now, I’m half drunk. I’d liked to get into the building so I can get the rest of the way drunk.” 

“Toby.” CJ sighed. 

“It’s my day of jubilee!” Toby said throwing an arm in the air and turning towards the Convention Center. “Come friends, let us go drink from Josh’s keg of glory!” 

“He’s going to be unbearable tomorrow.” CJ sighed. 

“Glad I don’t work in your part of the building.” Charlie quipped turning to follow Toby with Will. 

CJ gave Josh and Donna a warm smile and turned to walk over to the building. 

“So.” Josh said linking his hands with hers. 

“So.” She returned. 

“We’re getting married.” 

“That’s usually what this means.” 

“Do you want to go do that now, or?” Josh quipped then nodded his head toward the building. 

“We should probably go congratulate the leader of the free world first.” 

“He’s going to flip when he sees that ring.” Josh said turning and guiding her towards the building. 

Josh checked their coats and they entered the first ballroom. Rather than start to work the room, he pulled her right out onto the dance floor. 

“Have I told you tonight how amazing you look?” he asked as he drew his arms around her. 

“Have I told you tonight how much I love you?” she countered. 

“No, I don’t think so.” He replied. “Feel free to say it at regular intervals.” 

“I love you.” 

“I love you, too.” He replied. “Looks like we got the fundamentals covered.” 

“It’s a good start.” She nodded. 

“It’s a very good start.” 

THE END


End file.
